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Filmmaker Vincent Gallo has filed a lawsuit against Facebook and an anonymous man he claims created a fake Facebook profile to talk to Gallo's friends, exes, and various Los Angeles women.
Vincent Gallo—best known as the director of Buffalo '66 and Brown Bunny—claims that some devious catfisher created a phony Facebook profile and pretended to be him when interacting with others online, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Gallo himself does not have a Facebook profile, nor any other form of social media, his lawyers stated.
The catfisher allegedly contacted one of Gallo's ex-girlfriends—a model, according to The Daily Mail—and proceeded to message with her for a two-month period. The fake Gallo allegedly sent the woman naked photos of himself from the waist down, then solicited nude photos of the unidentified woman, which she sent believing Gallo to be the receiver. Gallo said the catfisher also convinced the woman to come to the Los Angeles from Europe to visit him.
According to the complaint:
Once she solidified her plans to visit him, Doe 1 (the Fake Account proprietor) backed down and gave an excuse that he would be out of town during her planned visit. At this time, she sensed something was wrong and discovered, to her horror and embarrassment, that Doe 1 was in fact, not Mr. Gallo.
The imposter is also accused of trying to use the profile to have flirtatious conversations with Los Angeles-area women, or to trick the women into meeting up with him. Gallo claims that the imposter posted a number of items to the phony page, including videos about Israel and the Gaza Strip and comments on various artists. Fake Gallo also apparently posted his disapproval of "degenerates" in Las Vegas, and in January, threatened to block anyone who doubted that he was the real Vincent Gallo.
Gallo claims he tried to get Facebook to intervene, but that Facebook requested proof of ID. Gallo said he sent it, but was told to send a new photo. Gallo said he sent that too, but Facebook still did not remove the fake profile.
There is still an active Gallo Facebook account, apparently, here. We have three mutual friends!
