FILED: NEW YORK COUNTY CLERK 01/19/2021 04:25 PM INDEX NO.

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SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

COUNTY OF NEW YORK

) SUMMONS
STEFAN SOLOVIEV and GINA )
CHERRIX, ) Index No.:

)
Plaintiffs, ) Date Index No. Purchased:

)
v. ) Plaintiff designates New York

) County as the place of trial

)
JANE DOE, a/k/a ASHLEY BENNETT, ) The basis of venue is the location of
a/k/a YANA LARSEN ) the occurrence of facts and

) circumstances giving rise to this

Defendant. ) lawsuit.

TO THE ABOVE-NAMED DEFENDANT:

PLEASE TAK.E NOTICE THAT YOU ARE SUMMONED to answer the

Complaint of the Plaintiffs herein and to serve a copy of your answer, or if the Complaint is not

Plaintiffs'
served with this Summons, to serve a notice of appearance, on the attorneys within 20

days after the service of this Summons, exclusive of the day of service (or within 30 days after

the service is complete if this Summons is not personally delivered to you within the State of

New York).

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE THAT in case of your failure to appear

or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default for the relief demanded in the

Complaint.

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Dated: White Plains, New York

January 19, 2021

MENZ BONNER KOMAR & KOENIGSBERG LLP

By: 77
Patr

(pbonner@mbkklaw.com)

One North Lexington Avenue, Suite 1550

White Plains, New York 10601

Tel.: (914) 949-0222

Attorneys for Plaintiffs Stefan Soloviev and Gina Cherrix

DEFENDANT'S ADDRESS:

Unknown Address. Plaintiffs have been unable to locate identifying information about

Defendant; consequently, Defendant is an unknown party pursuant to CPLR 1024.

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SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK

COUNTY OF NEW YORK

STEFAN SOLOVIEV and GINA )

CHERRIX, )
)
Plaintiffs, )
)
v. )
) INDEX NO.

)
JANE DOE, a/k/a ASHLEY BENNETT, )
a/k/a YANA LARSEN )
)
Defendant. )

COMPLAINT

Plaintiffs Stefan Soloviev ("Mr. Soloviev") and Gina Cherrix ("Ms. Cherrix") (collectively

"Plaintiffs"), by and through counsel, bring this complaint against Defendant Jane Doe, a/k/a

Ashley Bennett, a/k/a Yana Larsen ("Defendant"), and allege as follows:

I. NA TURE OF THE ACTION

1. Plaintiff Stefan Soloviev is the Chairman of Solow Realty and Development Co.

and the CEO of Crossroads Agriculture, LLC. Plaintiff Gina Cherrix was formerly a business

analyst and also has a presence on the Instagram social media platform. She and Mr. Soloviev are

in a personal relationship and have been for 6 years. Plaintiffs have four children together.

2. Defendant Jane Doe, a/k/a Ashley Bennett, a/k/a Yana Larsen is an anonymous

Bennett"
Instagram user, who upon information and belief is using the fake names, "Ashley and

Larsen,"
"Yana and multiple anonymous, fake Instagram accounts to harass Ms. Cherrix and Mr.

Soloviev with the goal of inflicting emotional distress upon both of them.

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3. Defendant has used multiple fake Instagram profiles to anonymously send Ms.

Cherrix images of a text message conversation, allegedly between herself or another woman and

Mr. Soloviev, which upon information or belief is either completely fabricated or a result of

Defendant compromising Mr. Soloviev's phone. This fake text conversation suggests that Mr.

Soloviev is attempting to initiate a relationship with Defendant or another woman despite his

relationship with Ms. Cherrix. Defendant has sent these fake conversations to Ms. Cherrix on

multiple occasions, claiming their authenticity, which has caused Ms. Cherrix and Mr. Soloviev

severe emotional distress. Moreover, these fake messages have caused Mr. Soloviev and Ms.

Cherrix's relationship to become strained, causing Mr. Soloviev severe emotional distress,

particularly in light of the fact that the two share four children, whom Mr. Soloviev loves dearly.

4. Plaintiffs bring this action for prima facie tort and intentional infliction of emotional

distress against Defendant Jane Doe, a/k/a Ashley Bennett, a/k/a Yana Larsen, whose true identity

unknown.1
is, at the time,

IL PARTIES

5. Plaintiff Stefan Soloviev is an individual who is the Chairman of Solow Realty and

Development Co. and the CEO of Crossroads Agriculture. Mr. Soloviev is a New York resident

who resides at 191 Lily Pond Lane. East Hampton, New York. Mr. Soloviev has four children with

Ms. Cherrix.

6. Plaintiff Gina Cherrix is an individual. Ms. Cherrix is a California resident and

resides at 4160 Monteverde Drive, Lincoln, California. Ms. Cherix has four children with Mr.

Soloviev.

Plaintiffs have attempted to contact Facebook, Inc. ("Facebook") the parent company of Instagram, Inc.
to receive identifying information about Defendant to include in a complaint against Defendant. Facebook
has indicated that it will not provide any identifying information, and therefore, this case must be brought
as a Jane Doe case under NY CPLR § 1024.

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7. Defendant Jane Doe, a/k/a Ashley Bennett, a/k/a Yana Larsen is an unknown

individual, who on information and belief, may reside in New York. Defendant utilizes the names

Bennett" Larsen"
"Ashley and "Yana on the fake Instagram accounts that she has used to harass

Bennett" Larsen"
Ms. Cherrix. Upon information and belief, neither "Ashley nor "Yana is

Defendant's real name.

III. VENUE

8. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to CPLR §§ 301 and 302(a) because, upon

information and belief, the Defendant committed an intentional tort against Plaintiffs while

physically present in New York, and while Plaintiffs themselves were in New York. Venue is

proper before the Supreme Court of New York, County of New York, pursuant to CPLR § 503

because the facts and circumstances giving rise to this lawsuit occurred in this County.

IV. SUBSTANTIVE ALLEGATIONS

"handle"2
9. Ms. Cherrix operates an Instagram profile under the

@adventures_in_motherhood. Ms. Cherrix has operated this Instagram profile under this handle

since April of 2020. Ms. Cherrix was formerly a business analyst but now devotes her time to her

and Mr. Soloviev's children.

message"3
10. On or about November 16, 2020, Ms. Cherrix received a "direct from

an Instagram user allegedly named Ashley Bennett, whose handle was @ashle_ybennett96. Ms.

Cherrix received the message at approximately 6:00 p.m. Eastern time which read: "I am real this

confused."
is not a joke and no one is broken. I'm just

2 "handle"
A is the userñame that an individual or company uses to defines the Instagram profile address,
which may or may not be some variation of the profile user's name.

3 message" "DM"
A "direct or is a private message sent from user to user on the Instagram platform,
much like a text message through SMS or other messaging application, such as WhatsApp.

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11. In addition to this message, Defendant attached a screenshot of an alleged text

message exchange between herself or another woman and Mr. Soloviev. The phone number visible

in the contact information of the text message sender was Mr. Soloviev's personal phone number.

The alleged text conversation reads as follows:

Mr. Soloviev (allegedly) ("SS"): Babe please talk to me

SS: I'm only with her because we have a baby

SS: I didn't even mean to have the baby

SS: It was an accident
SS: I have to be her r [sic]
SS: I want to be withyou
Defendant ("D"): Sure
D: I don't believe you
D: She is telling me to get right with myself
D: That's insane
D: You're lying she is being mean o [sic] know you're having sex with her

SS: No baby I'm not

SS: We're only here for the Kids

88: I'm done with my slut stage haha

SS: I love you

12. Mr. Soloviev did not send these text messages. Upon information and belief,

Defendant either compromised Mr. Soloviev's phone and sent the messages to herself, or

Defendant fabricated the entire conversation and used image editing software to interpose Mr.

Soloviev's phone number on the screenshots of the purported text conversation.

13. Ms. Cherrix responded to the message and requested that the sender, Defendant, no

longer contact her. Ms. Cherrix informed Defendant that she was not interested in receiving those

messages and initially blocked the sender's account, meaning that the Defendant could no longer

"@ashle_ybennett96."
send Ms. Cherrix direct messages through the account with the handle Ms.

Cherrix later unblocked the account to try to gather information about the Defendant.

14. That same night, November 16, 2020 Defendant sent another Instagram direct

message to Ms. Cherrix with the aforementioned screenshot of the purported text conversation

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"Reik."
including Mr. Soloviev. This time, the alleged name of the Instagram profile holder was

"@bennettashley20,"
The profile handle, however, was indicating that this was likely the same

Bennett"
"Ashley that had sent the previous message to Ms. Cherrix.

"Reik" followers4 posts.5

15. The profile had zero and zero Moreover, the direct

account."
message indicated that it was a "New Instagram On information and belief, Defendant,

Bennett,"
still going by the name of "Ashley created this account solely to send this message and

continue to harass Ms. Cherrix and Mr. Soloviev.

16. After receiving this message and a second screenshot of the purported conversation

this?"
involving Mr. Soloviev, Ms. Cherrix responded, asking "[w]ho is and noting that it was

seriously" that."
"hard to take the allegation "with a cryptic message like

"Reik"
17. Defendant sent several other messages to Ms. Cherrix under the profile,

wrecker."
claiming that Defendant did not want to be rude or be called a "home

18. Ms. Cherrix had made it abundantly clear that she wanted the individual going by

Bennett"
the name of "Ashely to stop sending Ms. Cherrix this text conversation and to stop

attempting to communicate with Ms. Cherrix.

19. Despite making that desire known, later on November 16, Ms. Cherrix received

another Instagram direct message with the aforementioned text conversation allegedly involving

Mr. Soloviev attached. Ms. Cherrix received it at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time. This time, the sender's

Larsen"
name on Instagram appeared as "Yana and the user's Instagram handle was

"@yama_1arsenl."

4 "follow"
Any account may another account, meaning that they can see the followed accounts posts and
pictures, and get notificationsregarding new posts on the followed account. A follower may see, like, and
comment on photos that are posted to a profile.
5 "post"
An Instagram is any photo or video that an Instagram user shares on their profile on the
Instagram platform. These posts may contain a caption or other information about the photo or video.

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20. Ms. Cherrix noted that the message did not appear to be from Mr. Soloviev because

that." [Ulrich]"
Mr. Soloviev "doesn't talk like Ms. Cherrix also stated that if it was "Karen that

now."6 Larsen"
"it would be better to come clean Defendant, using the "Yana profile claimed she

"Ashley" "mean." Larsen"

was and that Ms. Cherrix was very Defendant, under the name "Yana

Soloviev]"
stated that she wanted to know if Ms. Cherrix "was with him [Mr. and further stated

Soloviev]."
that "[o]bviously it's him [Mr. Thereafter, Defendant changed the account handle on

Larsen" 18."
the fake "Yana profile to "@larsen

21. Ms. Cherrix attempted to gather more information about the Defendant, but the

Defendant stopped messaging Ms. Cherrix.

22. Thus, despite repeated requests to stop contacting Ms. Cherrix, Defendant used no

less than three fake Instagram profiles to repeatedly send the fake text conversation involving Mr.

Soloviev to Ms. Cherrix. The text conversation falsely intimates that Mr. Soloviev does not

actually want a relationship with Ms. Cherrix, and instead wants one with Defendant, who

Bennett."
consistently goes by the name "Ashley

23. Upon information and belief, all three of these Instagram profiles have been

abandoned, as their only purpose was to send Ms. Cherrix the fake messages and cause Ms. Cherrix

emotional distress.

24. The continuous sending of this alleged text exchange, which suggests that Mr.

Soloviev does not want to be with Ms. Cherrix, despite that not being true, has caused Ms. Cherrix

and Mr. Soloviev severe emotional distress. The messages from Defendant under the fake "Ashley

Bennett," "Reik," Larsen"

and "Yana Instagram accounts have strained Ms. Cherrix's relationship

with Mr. Soloviev, which has caused both of them further severe emotional distress.

6
Karen Ulrich is a former nanny who worked for Mr. Soloviev but was terminated.

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25. Mr. Soloviev lost his father on November 17, 2020. Mr. Soloviev has been dealing

with the mourning of his father, as well as taking additional responsibilities at work.

26. These messages to Ms. Cherrix have also caused Mr. Soloviev severe emotional

distress because they have strained his relationship with Ms. Cherrix. Moreover, they have caused

Mr. Soloviev severe emotional distress because it appears as though the Defendant has

compromised Mr. Soloviev's personal phone, which contains many sensitive and private

messages, as well as important business-related information and messages.

27. Upon information and belief, Defendant is sending these fake messages for no other

reason than to cause Ms. Cherrix and Mr. Soloviev emotional distress and to attempt to sabotage

her relationship with Mr. Soloviev, as it was apparent that such messages would instigate a

confrontation between Plaintiffs.

V. COUNT I - INTENTIONAL INFLICTION OF EMOTIONAL DISTRESS

28. Plaintiffs hereby reallege and reincorporate ¶¶ 1-27 with the same force and effect

as if fully set out herein.

29. Defendant engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct by (1) either fabricating a

text conversation between herself and Mr. Soloviev or compromising Mr. Soloviev's personal

telephone to send such texts; (2) sending this fake text conversation to Ms. Cherrix, who is Mr.

Soloviev's partner and the mother of four of Mr. Soloviev's children; (3) utilizing a fake Instagram

account to anonymously send the fake messages; (4) continuing to send this alleged conversation

involving Mr. Soloviev despite repeated demands from Ms. Cherrix for Defendant to stop

harassing her with that text conversation; and (5) creating at least two other fake profiles, which

have since been deleted and never had any posts or followers, seemingly for the sole purpose to

continue sending Ms. Cherrix messages and copies of this alleged text conversation.

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30. Defendant intended to cause Ms. Cherrix and Mr. Soloviev severe emotional

distress. Defendant continuously sent Ms. Cherrix messages and copies of the alleged text

conversation under the guise that she was informing Ms. Cherrix of Mr. Soloviev's actions. This

text conversation, however, is fake and was fabricated by Defendant. However, even if the

conversation was real, if informing Ms. Cherrix had been Defendant's true intent, then a single

message with the attachment would have sufficed to inform Ms. Cherrix of potential issues with

Mr. Soloviev. Instead, Defendant created multiple fake accounts and repeatedly sent messages and

the attachnient to Ms. Cherrix, forcing her to relive the hurtful and distressful text conversation

suggesting that Mr. Soloviev intended to leave Ms. Cherrix for Defendant. Thus, Defendant's

intentions were clearly malevolent and her intention was to cause Ms. Cherrix distress, and to

further cause Mr. Soloviev distress by using the fake relationship to strain the relationship between

Plaintiffs.

31. Even if Defendant did not intend to cause Plaintiffs severe emotional distress,

Defendant disregarded the substantial probability that harassing Ms. Cherrix with fake, hurtful

messages aimed at straining her relationship with Mr. Soloviev, would cause both Ms. Cherrix and

Mr. Soloviev severe emotional distress.

32. Defendant's conduct and her repeated harassment of Ms. Cherrix using the fake

and distressing conversation caused Ms. Cherrix severe emotional distress. Further, Defendant's

use of a fake text message conversation caused Mr. Soloviev severe emotional distress because of

the strain it placed on the relationship between Ms. Cherrix and him and because of the fear that

his personal cellular phone, which contains both personal and business information and

communication, was compromised.

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33. Thus, Plaintiffs, Stefan Soloviev and Gina Cherrix sustained severe emotional

distress, which justifies both compensatory and punitive damages against Defendant Jane Doe,

a/k/a Ashley Bennett, a/k/a Yana Larsen in the amount of no less than $500,000.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs Stefan Soloviev and Gina Cherrix hereby demand judgment

against Defendant Jane Doe, a/k/a Ashley Bennett, a/k/a Yana Larsen:

Plaintiffs'
As to Count I: (1) Compensatory Damages for severe emotional distress;

(2) Punitive damages in the amount of no less than $500,000;

(3) injunctive relief enjoining Defendant from contacting Plaintiffs;

attorneys'
(4) reasonable fees and costs; and

(5) such further relief as this Court deems just and proper.

Dated: White Plains, New York

January 19, 2021

Respectfully submitted,

MENZ BONNER KOMAR

& KOENIGSBERG LLP

By:

PatritTcTkBUmfer, W.

One North Lexington Avenue, Suite 1550

White Plains, New York 10601
Tel.: (914) 949-0222

Attorneys for Plaintiffs

Stefan Soloviev and Gina Cherrix

Joseph L. Manson, III, Esq.

Law Offices of Joseph L. Manson III
600 Cameron Street

Alexandria, VA 22314
Telephone: 202-942-5000
jmanson@jmansonlaw.com
Counsel for Stefan Soloviev and Gina Cherrix
Not Admitted Pro Hac Vice.

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