The wealthy widow of a Roblox mogul is suing a male escort she claims scammed her out of $6 million.
Widower Marianne Flippo says she believed the escort, Greggory Blaine Starr, “loved her” and wired him millions to be “exclusive,” but later discovered he was only after her millions, she alleges in a lawsuit obtained by The Independent.
“I now realize I was foolish,” she admits in the suit.
Flippo, 49, lost her husband of 28 years, Chad Flippo, to suicide in 2024. She says that she later met Starr, 38, through Cowboys4Angels, an agency that offers “elite straight male companions for women.”
“She now knows that she was the victim of a sinister fraud,” says her attorney, Larry Hutcher, who alleges that Starr is now on a frantic shopping spree to “dissipate the stolen funds.”
Chad was a key developer of the online game “Roblox,” where he amassed his fortune. He and Marianne had been together since they were 13 and had three children together.
After her husband’s death, Flippo’s lawsuit said she needed to travel to Italy to get medication that had become scarce due to the Russia-Ukraine war. She suffers from vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a rare genetic connective tissue disorder that causes weakness in the blood vessels and internal organs.
Flippo says she was nervous about traveling alone and paid Starr $27,000 to join her after a friend recommended the agency. Marianne says she intended to part ways with Starr after the trip, but said the owner of Cowboys4Angels started calling her to say Starr missed her.
The two reconnected, and Starr eventually convinced Marianne to pay him $450,000 to be “exclusive,” according to the lawsuit.
Starr eventually told Marianne he wanted to be with her but could leave Cowboys4Angels only if he was bought out of his existing contracts for $10 million, according to the suit. She says that she agreed.
“Unfortunately, I was not capable or perceptive enough to know these statements were false but, since I loved and trusted Starr, I relied on what he said,” she said in the lawsuit
Marianne says in the suit that she was not in her right mind due to the “emotional rollercoaster” of grieving her husband and the effects of medication she had been prescribed. She said she signed Starr’s exit agreement while drunk and on painkillers, and without consulting an attorney.
When JPMorgan Chase flagged Marianne’s $10 million wire as potential fraud, Starr allegedly convinced her to open a joint account with him as owner, where she transferred $5.95 million.
Marianne is asking the Manhattan Supreme Court to order Starr to return her millions and compensate her for legal fees.
