Mequon executive counters sex-tape privacy suit with his own claim of secret recordings

A Mequon business executive accused of secretly recording his estranged wife in bed with her new boyfriend says they are conspiring to defraud him and has counterclaimed their invasion of privacy lawsuit.

Anna Leibsohn, better known professionally as jeweler and business owner Anna Zuckerman, 42, and her boyfriend each sued Richard Blomquist, 69, in February. They are represented by the same California privacy lawyer helping President Donald Trump litigate with Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress who says she had an affair with Trump and was paid right before the 2016 election to stay quiet about it.

The suits claimed Blomquist secretly installed hidden video cameras in her bedroom last fall after Leibsohn had moved to another home amid their divorce, then showed the intimate videos to Leibsohn's family, friends and business associates.

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In his answer to the lawsuit, Blomquist denied he had extra-marital affairs before their divorce began, or that he harassed, threatened, assaulted or defamed Leibsohn, defamed her boyfriend, or recorded them having sex.

His counterclaim seeks damages for slander, intentional infliction of emotional distress.  Blomquist also seeks damages for his own invasion of privacy action — that says Leibsohn shared recordings of him with other women after the divorce began, recordings made without his knowledge or consent and while he had an expectation of privacy.

"Upon information and belief, the plaintiff Leibohn acted outrageously and beyond all reasonable bounds of decency to intentionally inflict severe emotional distress upon the defendant Blomquist by, among others, filing this lawsuit," the counterclaim states.

Blomquist, represented by Milwaukee attorney Robert A. Levine, also hit the plaintiffs with a flood of interrogatories and requests for documents. The questions include whether Leibsohn and her boyfriend, South Florida luxury home builder Leonard Albanese, ever traveled to France together, for how long and if they had sex there. 

Leibsohn was asked if she knows "Jimmy who sells yachts" in Fort Lauderdale, a banker named Jeff or a Ukrainian chauffeur from Miami.

The plaintiffs declined to answer many of the questions as either irrelevant to their own claims, or because they don't know, or because Blomquist has equal access to the information or for privacy reasons. 

She did answer that she has no video of Blomquist having sex with other people.

The plaintiffs have moved to dismiss Blomquist's counterclaim and say all his discovery demands should be put on hold until there's a ruling on a dismissal. A hearing is set for early next month.

Police not interested

If true, some of Leibsohn's claims — like installing a secret camera, capturing intimate actions and disclosing them to others — would be crimes. An amended complaint filed last month claims that a hidden camera was also discovered at her Fort Lauderdale home in March.  

Mequon Police Chief Dan Buntrock said no one has filed a complaint with his department, and police do not plan to chase potential crimes if the supposed victims don't report them and choose a civil lawsuit to resolve their issues instead.

Leibsohn and Albanese are represented by Charles Harder, the Hollywood, Calif., lawyer who won a $140 million invasion of privacy judgment for Hulk Hogan against Gawker, which had posted part of a tape of Hogan having sex with his friend's wife. The verdict forced Gawker out of business.

Harder has recently begun representing President Trump over the validity of a non-disclosure agreement Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, signed when she got paid $130,000 for what she says was her silence about an affair she says she had with Trump in 2012.

Terry Johnson of von Briesen & Roper is local counsel for the plaintiffs.

High-profile marriage 

Area publications have profiled Leibsohn, a small woman with a large personality and inspiring backstory. She immigrated to the U.S. at 14 from Belarus, she has said, to escape anti-Semitism.

Her family was poor, but she hustled various jobs in high school while developing an interest in the family business of gold and jewelry. After starting AC Zuckerman Jewelers she expanded to mall-based jewelry and watch repair, the Sydney B. children's clothing boutiques and a gemological laboratory.

Blomquist runs Blomquist Benefits, a health care benefits consulting firm. He has frequently been cited as an expert in news stories about the Affordable Care Act and other issues involving health care insurance. He has been on the boards of the Milwaukee Metropolitan Association of Commerce's  Council of Small Business Executives and the Milwaukee chapter of the American Heart Association.

Their marriage was the second for Leibsohn, whose first husband died at 62 in 2010. The couple had two children. His marriage to Leibsohn was at least the third for Blomquist.

She and Blomquist married in May 2013. She filed for divorce from Blomquist in August, in Florida. The divorce is pending.