According to Vanity Fair, Mariah Carey filed a lawsuit against her former assistant, Lianna “Azarian” Shakhnazarian, which was settled for an undisclosed amount. The former assistant allegedly blackmailed Carey for the amount of $8 million after secretly recording Carey without her knowledge.
Back in February, Carey also accused Shakhnazarian of destroying important evidence that would have helped the singer’s case against her. The multi-platinum grammy award-winning artist also included that her former assistant violated a non-disclosure agreement.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Andrew Borrok has granted Carey’s request to penalize Shakhnazarian, indicating that she destroyed two videos and WhatsApp messages that could have helped Carey fight her case.
The judge also discovered that Shakhnazarian intentionally spilled water on her old cell phone and got rid of it after the suit had already been filed against her, was also destruction of evidence that could have been useful to Carey.
“Trading in her cellphone without taking any measures to save the videos, messages, and other data after this lawsuit was filed, when Ms. Shakhnazarian had an undeniable duty to preserve evidence, was grossly negligent, if not intentional,” Borrok wrote in his decision from Friday.
Shakhnazarian’s “actions constituted spoliation of critical evidence and severely prejudiced Ms. Carey’s ability to prosecute her case,” the decision reads.
The judge also ordered Shakhnazarian to turn in her current cell phone for a forensic examination and ordered her to pay Carey’s attorney’s fees for that matter.
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