Topless Hedge Fund Manager Suit Dismissed

Date: Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Author: FINalternatives.com

If hedge fund managers don’t want to see pictures of their bare breasts published in a national magazine, they had better keep their shirts on at parties.

A Manhattan judge has tossed out a lawsuit filed by hedge fund manager Maria Kristina Dominguez, who accused Vibe magazine of publishing a photo of her and two other women in topless mermaid costumes at rapper Sean Combs’ annual White Party at his East Hampton, N.Y. estate without her consent.

But Judge Doris Ling-Cohan says that individuals have no expectation of privacy at such events, which are newsworthy and of public interest.

The photo in question was taken at the 2003 White Party and published in the November 2006 issue of Vibe—with the caption, “Mermaids Gone Wild”—as part of a feature on Combs, better known as P. Diddy. Dominguez then sued both the magazine and Combs for $3 million, alleging “mental strain and distress and disturbance of peace of mind,” harm to her reputation and the loss of business opportunities.

Dominguez’s lawyers say the 28-year-old is still exploring her legal options.