A Manhattan heiress is suing her husband for leading her to believe his life would be in danger if she did not give him hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay off gambling debts. The husband was really spending the money on his mistress.
Candice Feinberg Lalicata, 39, filed a lawsuit against her husband, Steven Lalicata for scamming her out of $700,000 dollars to pay debts he owed to dangerous criminals. Instead, Steven Lalicata spent the money on lavish gifts for his girlfriend in New Jersey, according to the lawsuit obtained by the New York Daily News.
The husband, his mistress and his friends made Candice "believe that her husband, Steven Lalicata, whom she had recently married, owed large gambling debts to members of organized crime. Through a series of coordinated communications, they let her to believe physical well-being would be in jeopardy if she did not make huge amounts of cash available to him on short notice," the lawsuit, according to the Daily News.
Less than a year into their marriage in 2011 Steven began "disappearing for long periods of time without an explanation," sometimes for days at a time, the lawsuit said, the Daily News reported.
Steven eventually told his wife he was gone because he was gambling and now owed organized crime members in Brooklyn hundreds of thousands of dollars. Steven's friend and cousin confirmed his story to Candice, who began paying him large amounts of money to get her husband out of trouble.
When Steven disappeared once again, Candice found out her husband took another woman, Diana Fernandez, to the Dominican Republic.
Candice then hired a private investigator and found out Steven and Fernandez were in an "ongoing sexual relationship," and that the money she gave her husband went towards "jewelry, luxury goods, home furnishings and travel" for Fernandez.
Candice, whose father is one of the creators of seamless panties, married Steven in the March 2011. They met when Steven was an employee at an Upper West Side Beach Bum Tanning Salon. The two were married within months after Steven learned that Candice recently inherited a trust fund from her father, the Daily News reported.
According to the lawsuit, Candice is seeking $10 million in damages in addition to being reimbursed for the $700,000. The lawsuit also states that Candice wants her marriage annulled, the Daily News reported.
