Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Belfast Telegraphand Entertainment and Showbiz:

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s agent who helped secure $15m for photographs of their newborn twins, insulted his clients, openly discussed their body parts, and made jokes about their sexual habits, a lawsuit claims.

Todd Shemarya, whose roster includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew McConaughey and Christina Aguilera, stands accused of subjecting former assistant, Heather Devlin, to “a constant barrage of offensive sexual, racist and religious comments, exposed her to his computer porn, and trash talked the celebrities, while parading naked and exposing himself to staff in his office. Her duties included taking dictation from Mr Shemarya as he defecated in a toilet cubicle without a door.

In a sexual harassment and wrongful dismissal claim filed at the Superior Court in Los Angeles, Mr Shemarya is alleged to have also gone on racial tirades, stolen gifts intended for clients, laughed at the size of Brad’s manhood in a copy of Playgirl, and given “preferential treatment” to gay employees who slept with him.

Mr Shemarya is alleged, in the lawsuit, to have a habit of showing staff the August 1997 edition of Playgirl magazine, which contained nude pictures of his client Brad Pitt, “so he could ridicule the size of Pitt’s penis”. Another object of Mr Shemarya’s alleged ire was Jennifer Aniston. He “referred to her as ‘Jen Bitch’ or ‘the ugly bitch’ and described Aniston’s yoga instructor as her “lesbian girlfriend”.

In the theft department, he is alleged to have “taken a pair of vintage Cartier watches and used Brad’s name to score stuff from TAG Heuer and Coach, and a discount at Prada. Court documents, which were filmed in LA on Tuesday, also claim Shemarya intercepted two Cartier watches which were supposed to go to Brad Pitt and then-wife Jennifer Aniston, and gave them away as a wedding gift to friends of his instead.

Mr Shemarya, a brand agent, has strongly denied all of Ms Devlin’s charges. However, its contents have nonetheless sent a shockwave through the world of celebrity management. In the six years she worked for Mr Shemarya, Ms Devlin claims she was forced to endure “a work environment rife with sexual harassment and discrimination”.

She also alleges that her boss “paraded naked” around the offices, subjected female employees to foul-mouthed abuse, and made constant sexually offensive and derogatory comments about his celebrity clients.

Ms Devlin claims she was fired after refusing to help secure further luxury goods. She had also apparently fallen out with Mr Shemarya’s boyfriend.

Her lawyer, Keith Fink, well- known for bringing wrongful dismissal cases against celebrities, said she was seeking unlimited damages.

But Mr Shemarya told reporters: “These are false accusations. This is a disgruntled employee who I fired about a year ago. And now she’s trying to extort money.”