Margaret Josephs and her husband Joe Benigno are being sued by their former accountant, Stephen B. Wetter, who claims he stopped working for the couple after he stopped paying for his services.
Less than two months ago, on February 24, an accountant filed a lawsuit against the stars of Real Housewives of New Jersey in Bergen County, New Jersey, stating that they owe her $15,000 for work done for her and asking for an additional $5,000 in legal fees. . .
“I, Stephen B. Wetter, am a certified public accountant. I was retained by the defendant to prepare financial statements related to tax returns. About [three] Last year they stopped paying me for the work I did. Eventually, I stopped working for him. They said they didn’t have any money, but I’m sure that’s not true,” Stephen wrote in the court documents obtained Reality Blurb.
After the filing, on April 10, Margaret and Joe filed their response, stating that Stephen never provided them with “goods or services” and including a letter from the Rosenberg Law Firm sent to them in January about the upcoming lawsuit. .
According to The US Sun, that got it RHONJ cast member response, the letter is from Stephen and “accepted to sell funds.”
“There is nothing like that [law] indeed, there is no lawyer’s name, letterhead, address, email,” he said.
He also submitted a certified letter from his current accountant, who claims to have been in charge of the finances since 2018.
“The claims are absolutely ridiculous,” an insider close to Margaret told the outlet. “It’s highly suspicious that he’s coming out of the woodwork now.”
Meanwhile, a representative for Margaret added, “We believe this will be thrown out as soon as the statements Stephen made are completely false.”
But in his own statement, Stephen insisted the lawsuit was “not a personal matter.”
“I did a lot of work for them, for their company, Macbeth, and other investments… I worked for Jan (Margaret’s late husband) and her sister,” he explained. “I have electronic copies of tax returns and things that I’ve prepared, so they’re lying.”
Stephen even noted that he appeared in RHONJ season eight when he dates Margaret’s mother, Marge Sr.
“I used to go to Christmas parties at home. We would go out to dinner, we would drink, we got along very well,” he said. “And then I never heard from him again.”
As RHONJ fans can remember, this is not the first time Margaret has been sued. In 2017, his lifestyle brand, the Macbeth Collection, was sued for $12 million by Vineyard Vines for “trademark infringement”, but was only ordered to pay $300,000 in damages after a judge ruled against him.
A few years later, in 2022, after facing an additional $7 million from the brand after they reportedly failed to pay $300,000, Margaret and Joe were sued for $180,000 by their former business partner.
Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 13 airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.