JLo sued by former driver
Jennifer Lopez and her manager Benny Medina have been served a lawsuit by a chauffeur who alleges that the singer’s manager humiliated him.
Hakob Manoukian stated he started driving for Lopez and her ex-husband Marc Anthony in 2005 in documents obtained by TMZ.
He claims that the former couple convinced him to shut down his company and work exclusively as Lopez’s personal ‘Head of Security and Transportation’.
Manoukian says in his filing that JLo agreed to pay him more than $200,000 (£123,219) per year, but when she began filming ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’ in 2011 he started to take on duties with Medina.
Manoukian, who was born in Iraq, claims that her manager disliked him from the start, would often criticise him for the way he dressed and alleges that Medina once verbally abused him in public and told him that he “could not speak English well enough.”
The driver also alleges that Medina eventually persuaded Jennifer to demote him, taking away his security responsibilities and relegating him to “merely be Lopez’s Los Angeles driver.”
Manoukian says that he was forced to resign and is now suing the performer and her manager for unspecified damages.
Lopez has not yet commented on the claims, but Medina described Manoukian as a “disgruntled employee who chose to quit” in response to the allegations.
