Lady Gaga 'In Discussions' to Testify as Witness in Lawsuit Between Rodney Dangerfield's Widow and Ex-biz Partners: Sources
June 27 2023, Published 4:05 p.m. ET
Lady Gaga may become the star witness in a lawsuit against “cut-throat men” accused of allegedly duping $3.9 million from the widow of legendary comic Rodney Dangerfield, RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned.
Joan Dangerfield is expected to face off with the businessmen she sued in Los Angeles Superior Court for fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty in a deal to build entertainment venues with sophisticated technology.
Sources tell us, the Bad Romance singer may be called in to testify since she was scheduled to be the venue’s first resident artist for the Las Vegas spectacular featuring a 360-degree virtual theater experience.
The lawsuit, initially filed in 2018, accuses Peter McMillan III, Keith Hall and their company, Willowbrook Capital Group, LLC of exploiting Dangerfield’s trust and “confidence by lying to her, concealing information they were required to disclose, and excluding her from key discussions through a series of back-room deals detrimental to Dangerfield’s position and investment,” court documents show.
In 2014, Ms. Dangerfield made an initial investment of $1.2 million in the start-up company Rockdome, billed as the future of live entertainment.
“Legal reps for Lady Gaga and Joan Dangerfield are in discussions regarding her possible testimony regarding Rockdome,” a source close to the case told RadarOnline.com. “Lady Gaga was to be the proposed venue’s first resident artist.”
Despite big bucks promises, the deal turned sour in 2016 when Steve Fox, the Rockdome CEO, and co-defendant, allegedly claimed to be having trouble raising capital inducing Dangerfield to pump more cash into the project to fund his “bloated salary and expenses.”
“What Plaintiff did not know at the time was that McMillan and Fox were secretly planning for Rockdome to go through a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, without Plaintiff’s consent,” the suit alleges. “In addition to withholding critical information from (Dangerfield), Defendants began to dismantle established strategic partnerships and alliances that (Dangerfield) had helped build for Rockdome, in order to purposely weaken Rockdome’s economic position.”
“After the foreclosure, Fox caused Rockdome Inc., to abandon the Rockdome name so that a new company formed by McMillan could steal the name and associated goodwill and continue the Rockdome plan to develop valuable entertainment venues using the assets that had originally secured Dangerfield’s investment,” the suit alleges.
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What’s more, Dangerfield, the company board chairwoman, and largest shareholder was never informed that Panasonic, Inc. had signed a letter of intent, supported by IBM, to invest $100 million.
Soon after Dangerfield’s lawsuit was filed, the Willowbrook Capital website was shut down and a new company, named Pacific Oak Capital Advisors -- founded by McMillan and Hall – emerged.
The trial is set for July 18, 2023, in Los Angeles.
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