Fed judge drops suit against ex-reality TV star
A federal judge on Tuesday tossed a federal lawsuit brought against San Antonio real estate investor and onetime reality TV star Armando Montelongo by some of his current and former students who alleged they received worthless advice through his seminars.
U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that the 355 students who had sued Montelongo failed to argue sufficient facts in support of their allegations that he and three of his companies engaged in a
“pattern of racketeering activity.” Racketeering involves illegal business activities.
The students claimed they “fell victim to predatory and fraudulent business practices” and that Montelongo’s real estate seminars “are nothing more than a series of fraudulent up-sells designed to deceive and coerce customers into purchasing additional products,” according to Lamberth’s ruling.
Montelongo is best known as the former star of the A&E series “Flip This House.”
The students alleged that Montelongo and his companies violated the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, by committing wire fraud and conspiring to deceive them over a number of years. They also sued for negligence and negligent misrepresentation.
Montelongo, 47, maintained the allegations were frivolous. Christopher Wimmer, a San Francisco lawyer for the students, and Jason Davis, an attorney for Montelongo, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Lamberth ruled the students
failed “to state a RICO claim predicated on fraudulent acts.”
The judge declined to give the students the opportunity to amend their lawsuit because they already had made “four failed attempt to state a claim upon which relief may be granted.”
The suit was originally filed in February 2016 in San Francisco federal court. It was later amended, but eventually dismissed after Montelongo argued the court had no jurisdiction over the suit.
The suit was refiled in December 2016 in San Antonio. It was amended in April.
Lamberth declined to extend jurisdiction over the negligence claims, which are state-law claims, given he dismissed the federal claims.
The latest version of the suit didn’t specify how much the plaintiffs were seeking in financial damages, though they planned to seek triple the amount of their damages under the RICO statutes.