SVU star Chris Meloni's old home is now at the center of Fracking Fraudster drama

In the civil justice system, commercial fraud crimes are particularly heinous. But the actors playing dedicated NYPD detectives couldn't have known that one of their luxury apartments would end up in the hands of a Georgian crook. This is his story.

Law & Order: SVU Star Chris Meloni's old New York City apartment is now at the center of some serious legal drama. It has become a hideout for fracking industry crooks Deceived business partner in texas, Lost There's a lawsuit, and he's been evading the million-dollar judgment for so long that he now owes three times that amount.

David Sibiashvili and Natalia Sapir-Antoni bought the actor's apartment in midtown Manhattan for $8.15 million eight years ago, according to the British Daily Mail. observer. But on Friday, a despised Russian investor named Nikolai Rastorguev showed up File a lawsuit against The couple is in New York state court, saying Sibiashvili is now playing make-believe games to avoid losing the massive four-bedroom apartment located on prime real estate just one block from Carnegie Hall.

The lawsuit says Sibiashvili recently transferred ownership of the apartment to Anthony to avoid payment — which has now swelled with interest to $3 million.

Sibiashvili, who hails from Georgia, a country neighboring Russia, ran into serious financial problems shortly after purchasing the actor's apartment. according to Federal court documents Obtained by The Daily Beast, he accepted $800,000 in July 2016 from Rastorguev in exchange for shares in an oil and gas business called the Austin Chalk Development Project. But the court found that instead of fulfilling his part of the bargain and getting the land he promised to buy, the money was directed in other directions — and Rastorguev never got it back.

Harper Estes, a Texas attorney who serves as a special judge when people resolve legal issues in arbitration, reviewed the case in federal court and decided in 2021 that this was a “garden variety fraud.” But he also called it “a rare case that supports the claim of civil conspiracy.”

“Knowledge of the oil and gas industry or use of land brokerage firms cannot and does not in any way justify seizing other people’s money under false pretenses and using the money for other purposes,” he wrote.

The arbitrator also pointed out something else: The scheme involved a company called Level One Advisors and another man with a similar name, David A. Sepiashvili. This confusing development points to a New York Republican political operative who serves as the elected leader of the Brooklyn borough GOP and has previously served as Brooklyn borough GOP leader. a job City Election Commission. The second Sibiashvili himself – this time spelled with an 's' – lists LinkedIn as founder and president of Level One, referring to the company's involvement in the Austin Chalk project and calling it an “unconventional oil and gas development project.” Calls, text messages and social media messages to the second man with a similar name went unanswered Monday.

However, it appears the money was never paid. When a year passed, the Russian followed it up in 2022 prosecution Both men in Brooklyn – quickly won the to rule In state court.

The Russian is resorting to this third attempt by filing a lawsuit in Manhattan State Court and trying to convince the judge to intervene by preventing Sibiashvili I from changing the ownership status of the apartment, and ordering its immediate sale to pay off the outstanding debts.

Reached Monday, Sibiashvili declined to provide any details about his protracted legal headache, merely referring to his despised business partner Rastorguev as a man linked to some “bad people in Russia.”

“He's an idiot,” Sibiashvili said.