A Manhattan civil lawsuit is contesting nearly $6 million in transfers made during the relationship between Marianne Flippo, 49, and Gregg Starr, 38. Flippo’s complaint also challenges a proposed $10 million payment tied to Starr’s departure from Cowboys 4 Angels. The allegations have not been adjudicated.
What the complaint alleges
The complaint says Flippo met Starr through Cowboys 4 Angels, an agency that provides male companions. It alleges that she first paid him $27,000 to accompany her to Italy while seeking medication that had become difficult to obtain during the Russia-Ukraine war, according to the New York Post. The Daily Beast reported that court records linked the trip to Flippo’s vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. These are allegations and references in litigation, not findings by the court.
Flippo further alleges that she paid more than $450,000 for Starr to remain exclusive and that he later moved into her New York apartment, The Independent reported. She says Starr and a Cowboys 4 Angels employee pressured her in a Four Seasons hotel room to sign an agreement requiring a $10 million payment connected to his departure from the agency, according to the Post.
According to the Post’s account of the complaint, Flippo tried to send the $10 million, but her bank recalled the transfer after raising fraud concerns. The complaint says she then deposited $5.95 million into a joint account with Starr, who moved $5.7 million into an account held solely by him. Flippo also alleges that Starr and the agency employee gave her alcohol while she was taking prescription medication and warned that the money could be concealed unless she paid another $4 million.
The dispute over control of the money
Flippo’s attorney, Larry Hutcher, sought emergency relief to prevent Starr from moving additional funds, according to The Independent. Cowboys 4 Angels is not currently a defendant. Hutcher has said the agency could be added later, while any potential liability remains under review, the Daily Beast reported.
Starr denies coercing Flippo and describes the relationship as mutual. He says the payments covered shared expenses, household costs and charitable donations, and maintains that Flippo proposed the exit agreement. He has also accused Flippo of abusive conduct and said about $3 million remained. His attorney, Todd Spodek, said the evidence would support Starr’s account, according to The Independent.
What New York legal context can—and cannot—show
The lawsuit’s allegations raise questions about coercion, consent and whether particular transfers can be unwound. In a 2007 decision, the New York State Law Reporting Bureau quoted New York authority for the principle that financial pressure and unequal bargaining power, without more, do not establish duress: Adrian Family Partners I, L.P. v. ExxonMobil Corp. That decision does not resolve Flippo’s claims, which would depend on the evidence and the legal theories pleaded in this case.
A separate March 31, 2026, Kings County Supreme Court case also illustrates the importance of distinguishing allegations from findings. In A.S. v. A.B., one party attributed missing cryptocurrency to alleged catfishing or an online investment scheme; the court treated the competing explanations as unresolved and allowed discovery to trace the assets, according to the New York State Law Reporting Bureau. The cases involve different facts and claims, but both show why disputed transfers may require financial records and further proceedings before responsibility is determined.
Why national romance-fraud figures are only limited context
The Manhattan case is a civil dispute involving an in-person paid-companion relationship; the available account does not establish that it was an online romance scam. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that 6,740 people over 60 reported almost $357 million in confidence or romance-scam losses in 2023, but those figures concern reported losses in a different population and category, not this lawsuit: FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.
New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a June 6, 2024, consumer alert that online romance scams often involve building trust before soliciting money, sometimes through purported investments. That warning describes a broader online pattern and does not establish that Starr’s alleged conduct fits it: New York Attorney General’s Office.
For now, the central questions remain specific to the parties: what agreements were made, how the transfers were authorized, where the money went, and whether Flippo can prove that Starr or anyone else improperly obtained or retained it. The court’s eventual rulings—not the size of the transfers or comparisons with unrelated fraud statistics—will determine the legal outcome.
