Rachel Leviss Alleges Tom Sandoval Is 'Victim-Blaming' After Making Her Into 'an Unwilling Porn Star'
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In a new court filing, attorneys for Leviss claim Sandoval "surreptitiously recorded sexually explicit videos" of his ex and former 'Vanderpump Rules' costar
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From left: Tom Sandoval at the "Vanderpump Rules" Season 11 Premiere ; Rachel Leviss arrives at the KIIS FM's iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2023Rachel "Raquel" Leviss is claiming that ex Tom Sandoval turned her into "an unwilling pornstar and gravely invading her right to privacy” in a new legal filing obtained by PEOPLE.
The filing alleges Sandoval’s “tortious” behavior led Leviss “to incur significant medical expenses for in-patient mental health treatment.”
The lawyers claim that Sandoval’s motion to prevent Leviss from seeking punitive damages in the case “is meritless and should be denied in its entirety.”
Rachel "Raquel" Leviss is calling out Tom Sandoval in response to his attempts at having her revenge porn lawsuit dismissed or amended.
In new legal documents obtained by PEOPLE, attorneys for the Vanderpump Rules alum, 29, claim Sandoval “surreptitiously recorded sexually explicit videos of [Leviss] without her knowledge or consent, in effect turning [Leviss] into an unwilling pornstar and gravely invading her right to privacy.”
The filing alleges that Sandoval’s “tortious” behavior led to Leviss — who received care at The Meadows after the cheating scandal went public — “to incur significant medical expenses for in-patient mental health treatment as well as legal fees to halt the further distribution of sexually explicit videos that Sandoval had illegally recorded of her and failed to secure.”
Vivien Killilea/Getty
From left: Rachel Leviss and Tom Sandoval attend White Fox After Hours At Delilah Los Angeles on October 18, 2022 in West Hollywood, California.The attorneys further allege the pair engaged in “confidential communications, and [Leviss] had an objectively reasonable belief they were not being recorded.”
“Sandoval never asked [Leviss]’s permission to record their video calls, and [Leviss] neither knew about nor consented to him doing so,” the filing alleges.
Consequently, the lawyers claim that Sandoval’s motion to prevent Leviss from seeking punitive damages in the case “is meritless and should be denied in its entirety.”
Attorneys for Sandoval did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Araya Doheny/Getty
From left: Tom Sandoval and Rachel Leviss at the Tom Sandoval & The Most Extras performance at Hotel Cafe on November 14, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.Related: Ariana Madix Claims Rachel Leviss Is Seeking to 'Punish' and 'Blame' Her with Revenge Porn Lawsuit
Leviss’ response comes three weeks after Sandoval’s attorneys claimed the lawsuit “is a thinly veiled attempt to extend [Leviss’] fame and to rebrand herself as the victim instead of the other woman.” The filing alleged that Leviss is also “denigrating her former friend” Ariana Madix as a “scorned woman” and “her former paramour” Sandoval as “predatory.”
The attorneys claimed since November 2023, Leviss has “actively maintained a provocative podcast, Rachel Goes Rogue, to further bend the narrative to her will.”
Furthermore, the legal response alleged that Leviss’ claims against Sandoval “are based on her allegation that [he] surreptitiously recorded two videos of [her] ‘in a state of undress and masturbating’ during their less-than-discrete public affair.”
His attorneys countered that allegation, claiming, “These videos were created by Leviss and published by Leviss to Sandoval via a consensual exchange on FaceTime… Based on Leviss’ own allegations, Sandoval merely saved private copies of the videos that Leviss filmed and shared with him.”
In a previous statement to PEOPLE, Leviss' lawyers Mark Geragos and Bryan Freedman said, "Sandoval’s response in the face of irrefutable evidence that will be presented in court is disturbing. Leveraging such claims for media attention and perpetuating victim-blaming is not just deplorable but actionable."
In February 2024, Leviss sued Sandoval and Madix, 38, for eavesdropping, revenge porn and invasion of privacy.
The document obtained by PEOPLE at the time claimed that the events of Scandoval "captured the public's attention in a massive way" and went viral in a way that "caused mayhem in Leviss's life" in the form of months-long voluntary treatment at a mental health facility and her eventual departure from the show.
In conjunction with Bravo, Evolution Media and the rest of the Vanderpump Rules cast, Leviss stated that she was subjected to a public skewering" and became "one of the most hated women in America.
Leviss and Sandoval first made headlines in March 2023 after Madix allegedly discovered explicit videos of Leviss amid her nine-year relationship with Sandoval. The news of the duo's months-long affair not only rocked Bravo fans and ended Madix's relationship with Sandoval, but also became a pop cultural juggernaut of epic proportions.
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Vanderpump Rules airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Bravo.
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