Former supermodel Elle Macpherson's billionaire husband
Jeffrey Soffer is being sued for $100 million for piloting a helicopter that
crashed in the Bahamas, killing a prominent tax attorney.
Daria Valdez, the widow of Lance Valdez, filed the wrongful
death suit Monday in Miami federal court, claiming Soffer was "recklessly
flying and controlling" the helicopter at the time of the crash
"without a valid helicopter pilot's license."
"Mr. Soffer denies all the allegations of wrongdoing
contained in the complaint," Soffer's attorney, Bob Martinez, said in a
statement to ABC News.
The helicopter crashed in November 2012 during a landing
attempt at the exclusive Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club on Great Guana Cay.
Soffer and four others survived with injuries while his friend, Lance Valdez,
lost his life.
"...Soffer ended up piloting the aircraft," Daria
Valdez's attorney Gary Phillips told ABC News.
Soffer was licensed at the time to fly fixed-wing aircraft
but not helicopters, the lawsuit contends.
The lawsuit also claims Soffer "conspired" with
the other passengers to "conceal the fact that he was flying," and
that he "induced" Daria Valdez "to accept $2 million in
insurance proceeds" for the "primary purpose of avoiding his own
personal liability."
Soffer owns the famed Fontainbleau Hotel in Miami Beach and
is CEO of the Turnberry Associates real estate empire.
"Obviously a billionaire would not want to have
liability in a wrongful death suit," Phillips said.
A still-grieving Valdez was pressured to sign a release
stating that she would not take legal action against Soffer or anyone else
aboard the helicopter, the lawsuit added.
Macpherson, who was not involved in the crash, called a
mutual and "told him that Soffer was annoyed about Daria's delay in
signing the release," the lawsuit states.
"She was in a deplorable state of mind, grieving, upset
and getting these phone calls to this release. It just, it wasn't fair the way
they all tried to lean on her to that," Phillips said.
Macpherson declined to comment about the lawsuit.
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