Lady Gaga Doesn’t Have To Pay The Reward For Her Dogs
Lady Gaga won’t have to pay out the $500,000 reward that she promised for her French bulldogs’ safe return in 2021 when they were dognapped. Per CNN, a Los Angeles County Judge ruled Monday (October 2) that Jennifer McBride, one of the suspects in the incident, had “unclean hands.” As a result, she was “not entitled” to the reward money.
As we previously reported, Gaga’s dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was wounded by four shots to the chest when he resisted two men trying to take the dogs (Gaga’s beloved dogs Koji, Miss Asia and Gustavo). Fischer survived the attack and the two dogs, Koji and Gustavo, were later safely recovered. Fischer had been caring for the three dogs while Gaga was in Italy working on a new movie. The woman who “found” the dogs was arrested with the four others, as cops were suspicious of her being involved in the dognapping, and they advised Gaga not to pay the $500,000 reward.
“Although Plaintiff alleges that her motivation was to protect the bulldogs (and also collect $500,000.00), this alleged motivation does not negate her guilt of the charge because she has admitted receiving the bulldogs with knowledge that they were stolen property,” the ruling states. After formally being charged in the dognapping case, McBride filed a lawsuit in 2022 against Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, claiming the singer breached a contract stating the reward money would be awarded “no questions asked” about the return of her dogs. Fraud by false promises and fraud by misrepresentation were also listed in the lawsuit as the basis for damages.
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According to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office, McBride is currently on probation for two years after pleading guilty to receiving stolen property of more than $950. She was initially charged with one count of accessory after the fact and receiving stolen property, but the accessory after the fact charge was dismissed contemporaneously as part of a plea deal.
