‘So You Think You Can Dance’ judge Mary Murphy is suspected of forging legal documents in order to avoid paying more than $200,000 in damages to her former lawyer, Celebuzz is reporting. Hollywood agent Michael Sanchez alleged in a complaint with the Los Angeles Superior Court that the 54-year-old judge fraudulently altered a summons. He said Murphy changed the summons’ date to support her effort to overturn the court’s earlier ruling to award him lost commissions.
Murphy had pleaded with a judge to change a default judgment from November 8, which stated that she owed Sanchez $205,160 and 10 percent of any future earnings she makes from the hit FOX dance competition. After she made the plea, Sanchez and his lawyer, Steven P. Karakowsky, argued in a November 16 filing that “Murphy and MMPI (Mary Murphy Productions Inc.) assert that they failed to file an answer on a timely basis because they purportedly relied on a notion on the summons which stated that the summons was served on Murphy and MMPI on July 27, 2012.” Sanchez added that Murphy was attempting to perpetrate fraud upon the court.
Sanchez also claimed that process server Diego Garijo served Murphy on July 20, not July 27, at her San Diego dance studio. Garijo also swore under oath that the date of service was July 20. Sanchez’s document added that “The summons that is attached as Exhibit 1 to Leah Saffian’s purported declaration, which was apparently provided to her by Murphy, was FRAUDULENTLY ALTERED.”
The document added that the date on the summons wasn’t in Garijo’s handwriting. “The date which was placed on the summons by Mr. Garijo (July 20, 2012) was removed and the later date (July 27, 2012) was written on the document to provide the purported basis for the instant motion,” the document stated. Murphy’s lawyer has not publicly commented on Sanchez’s claims yet.
Written by: Karen Benardello
