Tom Sandoval has been on everyone’s radar since Scandoval broke on Season 10 of Vanderpump Rules. The wannabe lead singer really upset his fan base when it was revealed that he and Rachel Leviss had been having a secret affair for months. Since that fateful day, Tom has been fighting an uphill battle to win back favor in the court of public opinion. I feel like we are looking down the barrel of Al Pacino shouting, “You’re out of order! The whole system is out of order!” Except instead of an Oscar-winning actor, we will be watching Tom defend his alleged actions.
Rachel Leviss is taking Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix to court
Vanderpump Rules fans learned that the former model was suing Ariana Madix and Tom in July. In March 2023, Bravo fans famously learned just how Ariana had found out about the cheating scandal. Ariana saw messages from Rachel appear on his screen while being taxed with holding his phone. The messages held sexually explicit words and videos of Rachel, including one of her masturbating. During Season 10, Ariana admitted to sending two of the videos to her own phone and a copy to Rachel with the text “You are DEAD TO ME.”
After the news broke, Rachel’s lawyers reached out to numerous Vanderpump Rules stars to share that the video had been made illegally and without Rachel’s consent. The video in question is now the crux of the revenge porn lawsuit. In July 2024, L.A. Superior Court Judge Daniel Crowley ruled that the lawsuit Rachel filed against the former couple could move forward. At the time, Ariana was trying to have the case dropped.
Rachel Leviss bares all on podcast
During her tell-all podcast with Bethenny Frankel, the former VPR star stated, “When Tom and I were filming at my apartment after filming got picked back up, I said to Tom, ‘How can I trust you? You filmed me without my consent.’ And he admitted to it. But then, after that scene wrapped, he said, ‘Why did you say that? Why did you say that on camera? You made me look bad. And I was like, ‘Well because that’s what happened.’” Ariana countered the lawsuit by filing a declaration citing California’s anti-SLAPP law, which protects against frivolous lawsuits.
Ariana states in the documents that she made a copy of the video but never shared it. The Vanderpump Rules star then confronted Tom, who claimed he had deleted his copy. Ariana wrote, “I did not send the videos to anyone else. Nor did I share, display, or show the videos to anyone else. To be clear, I only saw the video of the plaintiff masturbating in places secluded from others.” However, the lawsuit and Rachel persist, and Tom possibly just made a foolish decision regarding his future.
Tom Sandoval is representing himself at the trial
On December 11, In Touch reported that Sandy had informed the judge in the case that he had let his lawyer go. The court documents show that the 42-year-old submitted a notice of substitution of attorney in the ongoing legal dispute. The TomTom owner then announced that his attorney, Varand Gourjian from Gourjian Law Group, would no longer be involved in the case. Tom had been working closely with Varand for months, and it is unclear what caused the rift.
Tom and his previous lawyer, Matt Geragos, parted ways after the lawyer filed a countersuit against Ariana, in which he claimed he had not been given all the details. The idea of Tom representing himself is humorous. Even though he might fancy himself as a male Elle Woods, Tom has no legal background. I am afraid he might be cutting his nose off to spite his face. Tom broke the law, and the California Recording Law states, “California’s wiretapping law is a two-party consent law. California makes it a crime to record or eavesdrop on any confidential communication. Including a private conversation or telephone call, without the consent of all parties to the conversation.”
Tom Sandoval could be seen as mocking the court
The law applies to “confidential communications, i.e., conversations in which one of the parties has an objectively reasonable expectation that no one is listening in or overhearing the conversation. A California appellate court has ruled that this statute applies to the use of hidden video cameras to record conversations as well.” Tom has a major fight on his hands as this is no laughing matter, and he probably should have serious counsel by his side instead of acting like the lawsuit isn’t a big deal. It doesn’t help that his girlfriend, Victoria Robinson, is going around commenting on social media posts that it is all fake news. Lest we forget, Ted Bundy also represented himself…
Vanderpump Rules can be streamed on Peacock
TELL US – DO YOU THINK TOM WILL BE ABLE TO ARGUE HIS CASE EFFECTIVELY WITHOUT LAWYERS?