UPDATE, 1:57 p.m. Friday:
In a statement provided to TheWrap, UTA"s legal counsel said that the agency and Camacho "fully deny the malicious allegations contained in this lawsuit, which not only makes baseless assertions in a blatant attempt to extort payment, but, incredibly, also seeks to reward Mr. Einziger for career difficulties he apparently attributes to anyone but himself. UTA and Michael Camacho will vigorously defend themselves against this meritless lawsuit."
Previously…
Former "Big Brother" executive producer Scott Einziger has filed a $10 million lawsuit against his former agent, Michael Camacho, and the United Talent Agency, claiming that Camacho steered Einziger toward inferior projects — in part so that Camacho could seduce a married female producer.
According to Einziger's suit — which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday and obtained by TheWrap — Camacho initially scored Einziger an executive-producer gig on "Big Brother" in 2008, with the intention of landing him a showrunner position at CBS.
However, the suit says, Camacho later persuaded Einziger to abandon "Big Brother" and take a six-month trial run as a producer with the start-up company, Ellen Rakieten Entertainment. According to Einziger, Camacho later admitted he was "in love" with the company's principal, and hoped to lure her away from her family. (Camacho, the suit goes on to note, was married with a family too.)
Once in place at Ellen Rakieten Entertainment, the suit says, Einziger was bombarded with phone calls from Camacho, asking if Rakieten had mentioned him.
Moreover, the suit alleges, Rakieten was so inept at business that Einziger "was overwhelmingly devoted to running the operations of the company, with no opportunity to pursue showrunner opportunities as Camacho had promised."
The end result, according to the suit, was "an uncomfortable, toxic working environment."
On top of it all, the suit claims that Rakieten told Einziger that Camacho hoped to break off and launch a new production company with her, a fact that had never been brought to Einziger's attention.
Einziger quit the gig on May 20 — and Camacho let him go as a client the same day, "via a text message, with no explanation," the suit says.
"Not only has Plaintiff's career path as a showrunner been derailed, he has found no employment suitable to his knowledge and experience in the entertainment industry [since]," the complaint reads.
Einziger, who's suing for breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud and breach of oral contract, is asking for damages in excess of $10 million.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
