Lawsuit: Hubby of Atkins widow has big appetite
Tags: Alexis Mersentes, diet gury, Ildiko Varga, Robert Atkins, Veronica Atkins
| Thursday 22 January 2009 3:15 pm
Alexis Mersentes and Veronica Atkins (Photo by Jeffrey Langlois/Palm Beach Daily News)
Palm Beach society fixture Alexis Mersentes’ marriage to Veronica Atkins, the widow of famed diet guru Robert Atkins, is little more than a “business relationship” that Mersentes hopes will lead to the “biggest score” of his life, according to a new lawsuit.
What’s more, since he married Veronica in early 2007 and until last summer, Mersentes also nurtured a relationship with another area woman. He allegedly paid her $6,000 a month to assure that she’d be available instead of pursuing her crystal business.
That woman, former Worth Avenue store owner and society figure Ildiko Varga, filed the suit last week in Palm Beach County.
Among other graphic accusations, the 56-year-old alleges that Mersentes, 70, took pictures of her naked without her permission then distributed the shots.
Word is Varga is seeking a settlement of over $1 million.
“The last thing Mr. Mersentes wants to do in this case is face a jury,” said Varga’s attorney in Miami, Richard Wolfe.
In addition to fueling Mersentes’ reputation for marrying rich women for their money, Varga’s lawsuit could affect another legal action. This one involves Dr. Atkins’ estate.
For nearly three years, the diet doc’s trustees have been fighting off attempts by Alexis and Veronica, also 70, to withdraw $100 million from the $600 million fortune. The trustees say Mersentes is a gold-digger without whom Atkins, who lives on $1.2 million a month from the estate, wouldn’t have sought more cash.
Ildiko Varga (Photo by Jacek Gancarz/Palm Beach Daily News)
Varga’s allegations, meanwhile, will be gossip fodder on The Island for the rest of the season.
The lawsuit reads that Mersentes asked her in March 2006 to stop working so that he could fulfill “his desire for love, companionship and . . . marriage.”
Unbeknownst to Varga at that time, Mersentes was dating Atkins, three years after West Palm Beach resident Veronica lost her husband in a fall on a frozen Manhattan sidewalk.
When Varga confronted Mersentes, court documents show, Mersentes allegedly told her it was just for business, and that Atkins presented a “once in a lifetime” opportunity.
In May 2006, Mersentes and Atkins vacationed in Monaco. Varga says Mersentes gave her his frequent-flier miles so that she, too, could go and stay in the same hotel as Mersentes and Atkins.
Even worse: When Mersentes married Atkins in March 2007, Varga says he spent a part of the day before and after the wedding having sex with her.
Varga claims to have credit-card bills showing she and Mersentes got together at least 200 times since Mersentes married Atkins.
Mersentes and Varga broke up last August and his checks stopped coming.
Now, she’s suing for invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress.
“It’s all b… s…, all lies,” Mersentes told Page2Live.
I feel sure Mr. Mersentes is now wishing he never used Viagra. At 70, wow - to have two pretty women, one of them 14 years younger. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished.
With all the problems going on in this world, literally the fate of human civilization hangs in the balance, you would hope that people like Mersentes, Atkins, Varaga, and all the blood suckers making money off of them, would turn their attention to more important things. There seems to be a lot of ‘gold-digging’ going on here. Greed, hate, truly a miserable situation all the way around. This case will go no where, but the lawyers will make bank. Karma will exact revenge
WHERE ARE THE NAKED PICS, I WANT TO SEE THEM!!!!!!!
[...] In the January lawsuit that the black-tie Palm Beach gala stalwart Varga brought against Mersentes, she claimed Mersentes took pictures of her posing nude then distributed them without her consent. [...]