Billionaire Stephen Cloobeck was arrested Tuesday for a felony charge of attempting to prevent or dissuade a victim or witness from testifying.
He’s since been released on a $300,000 bond after being held in West Hollywood, according to a report from TMZ.
The circumstances surrounding the charges are unclear.
Cloobek, the CEO of Diamond Resorts International, is also known for sheltering Eric Swalwell as he dealt with the backlash of his sexual misconduct scandal. He then booted him out, renouncing his status as a Democrat in the process, despite being a prominent donor to the party.
“I am no longer associated with a man that takes advantage of women,” Cloobeck said. “I support women’s rights.”
As The California Post previously reported, Swalwell shot a video denying the initial claims inside Cloobeck’s 9,700-square-foot home, enraging the businessman.
“I was with my counsel and we had a chat with him, I just told him, ‘You busted the trust,’” Cloobeck said. “’I’m shocked, I’m disturbed and get the f—k out of here.’ Then I walked away and that was it.”
Cloobeck said he was stunned by the allegations against Swalwell.
“I was blown away!” Cloobeck raged to a KTTV reporter. “Like blown away. Like, there’s no way I would have endorsed him. It’s such a shock.”
The billionaire, who ran for governor briefly last year before dropping out to support Swalwell, has now said he’s a libertarian Republican.
Cloobeck has been busy since.
He announced last month he would marry Penthouse Pet Adva Lavie, 28, despite claims she thieved off old men.
She is currently not allowed to leave California, sporting an ankle monitor. She appeared in court recently after pleading not guilty to six felony charges for allegedly preying on old men through dating apps.
Cloobeck told the California Post he still wants to marry her, saying: “The marriage is still on, the date is now a secret.”
The ankle monitor will ruin any plans to have an international wedding. She’s tried to get it removed, claiming it will hurt her modeling career.
In a motion presented to the court, Lavie included racy modeling photos and letters from potential employers to illustrate that she couldn’t prance around in a bathing suit with an ankle monitor.
One letter in the motion addressed to the court from Morio Parker, the founder of the Ganja Collection calls Lavie “an indispensable asset to our brand” and goes on to say: “Her image is inextricably linked to our corporate identity.”
Parker points to an upcoming ad campaign and asks the judge to “remove the ankle monitoring and mitigate the irreparable damage being done to her career”.
“The presence of an ankle monitor would make the resulting footage unusable,” he says.
Lavie has been married before to porn star Edan Ives, who described the couple’s unconventional, sex-filled lifestyle in a letter to the judge, writing: “We are an open-minded couple that believes in non-monogamous relationships” and added they plan to start a family.
They mutually filed for divorce in March.
Her court case is expected to go to trial towards the end of May. If convicted on all counts, Lavie faces up to 11 years, eight months in state prison.
It’s unclear when the wedding bells will officially ring, or where.
