A Las Vegas entertainer has asked a Nevada court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a former partner who claims she defrauded him of millions during a decade-long relationship. Melanie Sterling, 49, filed a motion to dismiss the suit filed in June 2024 by 62-year-old Arkansas resident Fred Brunner, who contends Sterling stole $3.5 million and conspired with others to take his money.
Brunner’s complaint alleges the two met at a Las Vegas gentlemen’s club in June 2014 after he visited the club during a painful period in his divorce. The suit says Sterling, performing at the club, targeted Brunner, cultivated a romantic relationship and later persuaded him to make large gifts, pay for travel and cosmetic procedures, and to purchase a Las Vegas house in both their names.
According to the complaint, Brunner bought a newly built 4,980-square-foot, six-bedroom house on El Malpais Street for $720,000 on Sept. 23, 2019, and agreed to title it in Sterling’s name to protect her from potential claims by his children. Brunner alleges Sterling transferred the property into a trust in her own name about a week after the purchase to prevent him from accessing it. The lawsuit says the house is now worth about $1.28 million.
Brunner’s filing recounts months of gifts, cash transfers, extravagant holidays paid by him and long romantic communications, and alleges Sterling secretly maintained a relationship with another man for much of the time they saw each other. He also points to a Dec. 8, 2020, episode in which he alleges Sterling told him she was unwell but then posted a photo showing her and another man, identified in court papers as Shanta Cotright, dining at The Capital Grille.
The complaint seeks repayment of $3.5 million, Brunner’s asserted half-interest in the Las Vegas home and $35 million in punitive damages from Sterling and 20 unnamed co-conspirators. Brunner’s filing describes him as emotionally vulnerable when he met Sterling and asserts she took advantage of him after identifying him as a wealthy patron.
Sterling’s attorneys have characterized the claims as without merit. In a motion to dismiss obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, her legal team said Brunner “alleges that he fell victim to a 10-year relationship scam.” The filing says the parties never lived together, were never engaged and never married, and therefore Sterling does not owe him the relief he seeks. Sterling was quoted in court papers reacting to the lawsuit with laughter and the line, “Haven’t we all,” saying it was improper to sue an ex over a broken relationship.
Attorney Jim Jimmerson, representing Sterling, said last week he is confident “the truth will win the day” and described the matter as the end of a long-term relationship that should have concluded without litigation.
The case was originally filed in Arkansas but a judge transferred it to Nevada, where a hearing on Sterling’s motion to dismiss is scheduled for Oct. 21 in Clark County District Court. Court records show the suit was filed in June 2024; both parties’ attorneys and Sterling were contacted for comment, according to the original reporting.
The dispute joins a string of civil suits in which former companions have sought repayment or property after relationships end, raising questions in each case about intent, gifts versus loans, and the legal effect of property transfers during intimate relationships. The Nevada hearing will determine whether the court will dismiss Brunner’s claims or allow the matter to proceed toward discovery and potential trial.