Mariah Carey sues former assistant for allegedly blackmailing her with 'intimate videos'

USA TODAY

Mariah Carey is suing her former personal assistant, who she claims is a "grifter and extortionist."

"This new year welcomes Mariah's continued efforts to clean the trash from her life," Carey's representative said in a statement to USA TODAY. "Because her threats and bad acts are too great to be ignored, Mariah has been compelled to file a lawsuit."

Court documents obtained by People and Entertainment Tonight state that the singer is suing Lianna Shakhnazarian (Azarian for short), who worked as Carey's executive assistant from 2015 through November 2017, for extortion, invasion of privacy, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.

Mariah Carey is suing her former personal assistant, who she claims to be a "grifter and extortionist."

"Azarian, without Mariah’s knowledge or permission, secretly filmed Mariah engaged in personal activities which, if revealed, Azarian knew would be personally embarrassing and professionally damaging to Mariah," the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit alleges Azarian "displayed the intimate videos to her friends and co-workers," threatening to release or sell the footage if she were ever fired from her $327,000 salary job.

"Confronted with the fact that she recorded Mariah without her knowledge or consent, Arzarian did not apologize," the lawsuit says. "Instead, Azarian threatened to release the videos, and other sensitive, private information, unless Mariah provided her $8,000,000. This is blackmail."

Carey is seeking at least $3 million in damages, according to the lawsuit obtained by People and ET.

"Given that the evidence against this former assistant is vast and deplorable," Carey's rep said, "we anticipate a victorious resolution."

USA TODAY has reached out to Shakhnazarian's attorney for comment.

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