Reality TV phenomenon known as Scandoval takes a wild new turn, with Vanderpump Rules Villain Tom Sandoval is suing his ex-girlfriend Ariana Madix over “intimate” FaceTime recordings Madix found on his phone last year.
For anyone new to the Bravo cinematic universe, the video in question shows VPR Co-star Raquel Leviss had phone sex with Sandoval. This confirmed the couple’s secret affair that began behind Madix’s back and led to a windfall for VPR.
Sandoval’s eight-page complaint against Madix was actually filed as a cross-complaint Tuesday night, the same day Sandoval responded to Leviss’s earlier complaint against him. In that complaint, Leviss accused Sandoval of eavesdropping, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress for recording their FaceTime calls without his consent.
In his new complaint against Madix, Sandoval claims that it was Madix who acted without “authorization or permission” when she accessed his phone and made her own recordings of Leviss’ stored video. According to the new complaint, Madix is solely responsible for the damages caused to Leviss, “in whole or in part.” Sandoval also asks the court to award him “punitive damages” from Madix, claiming that she acted with “willful and conscious disregard” of his rights.
In her February complaint, Leviss also sued Madix. She accused Madix of the same invasions of privacy and infliction of emotional distress as Sandoval, but added a third cause of action for “revenge porn.” According to Leviss, after Madix found the video of her “undressing and masturbating” in FaceTime calls with Sandoval, Madix copied excerpts onto her own phone and “distributed” them to others.
The judge in charge of the case has so far rejected requests from Sandoval and Madix to dismiss the case on alleged deficiencies or First Amendment grounds. Leviss, whose legal name is Rachel Leviss, now moves forward with a trial date set for November 2025.
“It is abhorrent that Tom Sandoval continues to torment Ms. Madix,” Jordan Susman, Madix’s attorney, said in a statement Wednesday in response to the cross-complaint. The attorney claims Sandoval engaged in “an illicit affair that shattered (Madix’s) home and stability.” He said Sandoval subjected Madix to “months of emotional warfare” and is now attempting to “further evade personal responsibility for the effects his actions have had on her and her emotional well-being.”
“Mr. Sandoval knows full well what kind of privileges he and Ms. Madix shared with respect to their personal communications devices. If he or his mistress had any say in the matter, it would be illegal for someone to discover that their spouse or partner was having an affair,” Susman said. “The fact that Mr. Sandoval goes from begging Ms. Madix for forgiveness to blaming her for his misdeeds speaks for itself. Even months after the New York Times “Despite calling Mr. Sandoval ‘the most hated man in America,’ he has clearly learned nothing and feels it necessary to continue torturing Ms. Madix in a futile effort to rehabilitate his image. Ms. Madix is confident that a jury will see through this latest ruse and dismiss her frivolous allegations.”
Sandoval’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rolling stoneTom Sandoval’s request for comment was welcomed by Leviss’ attorney, Bryan Freedman: “Tom Sandoval should not have recorded Rachel without her consent. He seriously invaded her privacy. Despite the court’s ruling that Ariana’s conduct was unlawful, Tom’s attempt to evade responsibility for his own wrongdoing is insane.”
In her initial 19-page complaint, Leviss claimed that Sandoval “sneak-recorded” her as they engaged in a clandestine affair while Sandoval was still living with Madix in the midst of a years-long domestic relationship. As fans of the popular reality show know, the FaceTime video blew the door off Sandoval and Leviss’ affair.
According to court documents filed by Madix to withdraw from the lawsuit, she found the video on Sandoval’s phone after his device slipped out of his pocket while he was performing with his cover band at Tom Tom in West Hollywood, California, in March 2023. Madix wrote in a statement that someone had given her the phone for safekeeping and that her “woman’s intuition” led her to check the device, which she easily accessed because she already knew the code. Madix said she was “shocked” to find a recording of at least one sexually explicit call while scanning the phone alone in the bathroom stall. “I quickly pulled out my own phone and made two recordings of the FaceTime video. Prior to that point, I considered the plaintiff a friend and was unaware that she and Mr. Sandoval were having an affair,” Madix wrote.
Madix said she sent the two video clips to Leviss with a text message that said, “You are dead to me,” and that was it. “I did not send the videos to anyone else,” she wrote in the affidavit. She said that when she confronted Sandoval in an alley a short time later, he “forcibly grabbed” her phone and deleted the videos.
In her complaint, Leviss said she found the story of how Madix obtained and then lost the video suspicious. Regardless, she accused Madix of sharing the videos with unidentified third parties. “Leviss has suffered serious emotional, psychological, financial and reputational harm as a result of Madix’s distribution, dissemination and publicity of the infringing videos,” the complaint said. Leviss said she was “humiliated and demonized” by Sandoval and Madix’s alleged actions. She accused the couple of acting with “malice,” meaning they should be held liable for punitive damages “to deter similar conduct in the future.”
“To be clear, Leviss has repeatedly acknowledged that her actions were morally wrong and hurtful to Madix. She has apologized extensively. But there is more to it,” Leviss said in her complaint. “What is lost is that Leviss was the victim of the predatory and dishonest behavior of an older man, who recorded sexually explicit videos of her without her consent or knowledge, which were then distributed, broadcast, and publicly discussed by a scorned woman seeking revenge, catalyzing the scandal.” Leviss said she eventually checked herself into a mental health facility and remained there for three months while Bravo and the cast “exploited the interest her excoriation generated.”
According to Leviss, she was in a “vulnerable state” while filming the show and was “encouraged” by producers to drink alcohol. Leviss said she began sleeping with Sandoval in August 2022 and believes Madix knew about it before finding the video on Sandoval’s phone. She alleged Vanderpump Rules was about to be canceled at the time, as the previous storylines had “grown stale” and Sandoval and Madix “had every incentive” to “leverage” the case in “the story that Vanderpump Rules which we desperately need.
In his new lawsuit against Madix, Sandoval claims he had no role in Madix’s discovery of the video or its alleged sharing. He said Madix “gained access” to his phone and “reviewed images, information, data, videos and … FaceTime videos between Leviss and Sandoval without Sandoval’s authorization or permission. Sandoval is informed and therefore believes and alleges that Madix made copies of the data and distributed them to Leviss and third parties without Sandoval’s authorization or permission,” his complaint states. He claims Madix’s “unauthorized” access to and copying of his data amounted to an invasion of privacy. “The intrusion was offensive and reprehensible to Sandoval and to a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities,” the complaint states.