Influencer charged in sugar daddy rip-offs is denied diversion; judge questions her truthfulness

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied a request for a Los Angeles influencer charged with stealing luxury items from wealthy older men she met on dating apps to be diverted into mental health treatment.

Adva Lavie’s attorneys sought a diversion program, arguing she was a victim of physical and sexual abuse, had been sex trafficked and had extensive post-traumatic stress disorder, as the 29-year-old faces a slew of felony charges for an alleged dating app burglary scheme involving wealthy men and a young woman.

After reviewing extensive mental health examinations of Lavie by defense experts, Judge Diego H. Edber questioned her truthfulness. The judge said the reports state “each of these men provided a large amount of drugs and alcohol. This is just not true.”

The judge said the defense psychologist and doctor relied on Lavie’s accounts, but there was little documentation to support her mental health claims and back her allegations of abuse and violence.

Edber said the court found her mental state played no role in the alleged crimes and denied her bail, noting she discussed on a jail call fleeing to her native Israel.

The judge’s ruling comes as authorities charged her onetime lover, billionaire Stephen Cloobeck, with tampering with a witness in the case. Lavie bragged on a jailhouse call to her ex-husband that if she got out, she would make sure her recent fiancé, Cloobeck, was “addicted to her p—.”

Lavie — who authorities say also goes by the names Mia Ventura, Shoshana and Shana — was arrested earlier this year and is accused of luring wealthy older men and younger women into dates before robbing, stealing from and extorting them in the tony haunts of Westlake Village, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills.

She is facing trial on two counts of grand theft and two counts of first-degree residential burglary from incidents in L.A. County. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges that could result in a prison sentence of more than 11 years.

She was arrested again last week after a Riverside County caper in which she allegedly stole a man’s Rolex and luxury Louis Vuitton accessories and drove off in his Tesla Cybertruck. During that arrest, Beverly Hills officers learned she had removed her court-ordered GPS monitoring ankle bracelet, leading her to be jailed.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Friedman told the judge Monday there is a new pending investigation with other potential victims. “Even while incarcerated, she cannot refrain from scheming,” the prosecutor said.

Her case garnered further attention when Cloobeck — a one-time California gubernatorial candidate ensconced in Democratic political circles — was charged with witness tampering to help Lavie, his former paramour thanks to her work as an OnlyFans model.

Cloobeck, according to a detective’s testimony Monday, is not on speaking terms with Lavie. He has pleaded not guilty.

Jeremy Lessem, one of Lavie’s attorneys, told the judge her mental health history in court records showed she was abused by her father, her first sexual experience was a rape and her ex-husband was abusive. She had “qualifying mental illness, primarily PTSD,” Lessem said.

He said the alleged crimes followed a similar pattern. Instead of traditional dating apps, the attorney said she was on “sugar daddy websites” where the men paid for control.

Seeking to deny Lavie mental health diversion, prosecutors said she was plotting behind bars and engaging in conduct very similar to the charged offenses. “She does whatever she has to do to get back with [the men],” Freedman told the judge.

An L.A. County sheriff’s detective testified that Lavie, in a jailhouse phone conversation with her ex-husband filled with loving words, told him, “Cloobeck is a pig who just wants sex.” She told him to use a credit card Cloobeck gave her to help with money.

The prosecutor said Lavie had at least three times removed an ankle monitor while out of custody and showed she could not follow the court’s directions.

Lavie appeared in a jailhouse-yellow shirt and blue pants and looked distressed throughout the hearing, nodding and gesturing to friends at times. As she left the courtroom, she turned to friends in the audience and said, “Thank you for coming, I love you.”

Lavie previously had been released on bail — with certain conditions, including the ankle monitor — as she awaited trial on charges that stemmed from burglaries mostly targeting older, rich men she pursued romantically, according to detectives.

The new warrant that led to her most recent arrest came from an Indio Police Department investigation that alleges Lavie stole from someone at an Airbnb in the desert city last year, taking more than $10,000 worth of property from the victim’s Tesla, according to police spokesperson Sgt. Abe Plata. The theft, he said, was caught on the home’s surveillance footage.

After spending time with Lavie, the victim reported missing a Rolex worth $8,600, Louis Vuitton sunglasses worth about $700 and a Louis Vuitton card holder worth nearly $2,000, Plata said.

This new case eventually will be handled in Riverside County and is unrelated to the case in L.A. County, where the charges stem from incidents involving five alleged victims, according to investigators. But after the Sheriff’s Department released a bulletin calling for other possible victims to come forward, detectives learned of several additional burglaries possibly linked to Lavie.

In addition to older men she met online, Lavie allegedly stole from younger men and women as well as businesses, investigators said.