RHONJ’s Margaret Josephs and husband Joe Benigno sued for $20K after ‘refusing to pay accountant for his tax services’
THE Real Housewives of New Jersey star Margaret Josephs and her husband Joe Benigno have been sued for $20,000 by their former accountant, The U.S. Sun has exclusively learned.
Stephen B. Wetter, a certified public accountant based in New York and New Jersey, filed a complaint in a NJ court on February 24 against the RHONJ star and her husband.
In the filing obtained by The U.S. Sun, Stephen writes he was "retained by the defendants to prepare financial statements and related tax returns [from 2008 until 2019, 2020].
"About three years ago, they stopped paying me for work performed.
"Eventually, I stopped working for them. They say they have no money, but I believe this is untrue."
Stephen, who noted he is representing himself, is demanding $15,000, plus $5,000 in legal fees, so $20K total.
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MARGARET CLAPS BACK
On April 10, Margaret, 56, and Joe, 67, filed their responses to the lawsuit, denying Stephen performed "goods or services" for them.
They also include a legal letter sent by The Rosenberg Law Firm in their argument.
The letter was sent to the Bravo stars in January, warning them of a forthcoming lawsuit if they did not pay up.
The Josephs stated that the letter was from Mr. Wetter and was "received to extort funds."
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"There is no such [law] firm, no attorney name, letterhead, address, email," they stated in the exhibit.
In their defense, they also include an official legal letter from their personal and business accountant, who stated that he took over their bookkeeping and taxes from 2018 until current.
A source close to the Real Housewives star told The U.S. Sun, "The lawsuit is completely absurd.
"It's very suspect that he's coming out of the woodwork now."
When reached for comment, a rep for Margaret pointed out the facts mentioned in their response and told The U.S. Sun: "We're confident this is going to be dismissed soon as statements Stephen made are completely false."
ACCOUNTANT SPEAKS OUT
Stephen, for his part, stated his side of the story, when contacted by The U.S. Sun.
He made it clear that this was "not a personal thing" against the Josephs and that it is solely a "business" matter.
"I did a lot of work for them, for her company, Macbeth, and other investments...I worked for Jan (Margaret's late husband) and his brother.
"I have electronic copies of tax returns and stuff that I prepared, so she's lying," Stephen claimed.
"Margaret says she doesn't have any money to pay me, but if I look her up on Google, it says she's worth $50million," as also noted in The Rosenberg legal letter included in the clothing designer's exhibit.
Multiple sites have stated her reported net worth is $5million.
Stephen went on to say that he and Joe were "very close friends," so it's "very disappointing" for him to have to get the court involved.
He even made an appearance on season 8 when Margaret's mother, Marge Sr., went on a date with Stephen.
"I used to go to Christmas parties at the house. We would go out to dinner, we'd have drinks, we got along very well.
"And then I've never heard from him again," Stephen said.
The NJ-based accountant continued: "I've been in business a long time. I'm very professional. I never had to do this.
"Margaret's been involved in a lot of lawsuits. You know, she's very litigious. They don't pay anybody."
He added: "I have copies of a lot of things that were sent by the state of New Jersey- annual filing fees.
"We'll go to court. That's no problem. We'll see what happens."
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The lawsuit is currently ongoing and a court date has yet to be set.
