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Margaret Josephs and husband Joe Benigno are being sued by their former accountant, Stephen B. Wetter, who claims he quit working for the Couple after they stopped paying him for his services.
Just under two months ago, on February 24, accountant filed his lawsuit against the Real Housewives of New Jersey stars in Bergen County, New Jersey, stating that they owe him $15,000 for the work he did for them and requesting an additional $5,000 in legal fees.
“I, Stephen B. Wetter, am a certified public accountant. I was retained by the defendants to prepare financial statements related tax returns. About [three] years ago they stopped paying me for work I performed. Eventually, I stopped working for them. They say they have no money, but I believe this is untrue,” Stephen wrote in court documents obtained by Reality Blurb.
Following the filing, on April 10, Margaret and Joe filed their response, claiming Stephen never provided “goods or services” to them and including a letter from The Rosenberg Law Firm that was sent to them in January in regard to the then-forthcoming lawsuit.
According to The U.S. Sun, who obtained the RHONJ cast members’ response, the letter was from Stephen and was “received to extort funds.”
“There is no such [law] firm, no attorney name, letterhead, address, email,” they stated.
They also turned in a legal letter from their current accountant, who claims he’s been in charge of their finances since 2018.
“The lawsuit is completely absurd,” an insider close to Margaret told the outlet. “It’s very suspect that he’s coming out of the woodwork now.”
Meanwhile, a rep for Margaret added, “We’re confident this is going to be dismissed soon as statements Stephen made are completely false.”
But in his own statement, Stephen insists his lawsuit is “not a personal thing.”
“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,” he explained. “I have electronic copies of tax returns and stuff that I prepared, so she’s lying.”
Stephen even noted that he was featured on RHONJ season eight when he went on a Date with Margaret’s mom, Marge Sr.
“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,” he shared. “And then I’ve never heard from him again.”
As RHONJ fans may recall, this isn’t the first time Margaret has been sued. In 2017, her lifestyle brand, Macbeth Collection, was sued for $12 million by Vineyard Vines due to an alleged “trademark infringement,” but was only ordered to pay $300,000 in damages after a judge ruled against her.
Years later, in 2022, after facing an additional $7 million suit from the brand after she reportedly failed to pay the $300,000, Margaret and Joe were sued for $180,000 by their former business partners.
The Real Housewives of New Jersey season 13 airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo.
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