{"id":426809,"date":"2026-08-07T22:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/426809\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:04:08","slug":"ex-california-governor-candidate-pleads-not-guilty-to-charges-he-threatened-witnesses-in-fiancees-case-daily-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/426809\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-California governor candidate pleads not guilty to charges he threatened witnesses in fianc\u00e9e\u2019s case \u2013 Daily News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billionaire and former gubernatorial candidate Stephen Cloobeck pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he tried to dissuade people from testifying<\/a> in a criminal case against his then-fianc\u00e9e, a model and social media personality.<\/p>\n

Cloobeck \u2014 a real estate magnate who dropped his bid for governor late last year and threw his support behind now-disgraced former Rep. Eric Swalwell \u2014 was charged April 28 with two felony counts of attempting to prevent or dissuade a witness\/victim from attending a proceeding by force or threat, and one felony count of preventing or dissuading a witness or victim from attending or testifying at a trial or proceeding.<\/p>\n

He was also charged with a misdemeanor count of annoying telephone calls \u2014 allegedly directed at the attorney of one of the alleged victims in his fianc\u00e9e\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

The victims named in the criminal complaint against Cloobeck are all alleged victims in the case of his former fianc\u00e9e, Adva Lavie.<\/p>\n

Cloobeck remains free on $300,000 bond posted within hours of his arrest May 12 by the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department. A date is scheduled to be set Oct. 7 for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to allow the case to move forward to trial.<\/p>\n

The California Post reported that Cloobeck has called off his engagement to Lavie.<\/p>\n

\"AdvaAdva Lavie, 29, is seen in a 2024 photo provided by the LA County Sheriff\u2019s Department. She also uses the name Mia Ventura. (Photo courtesy of LASD)<\/p>\n

Lavie, also known as Mia Ventura, was charged last year with stealing money and other property<\/a> from people she met through dating apps \u2014 including wealthy older men and some younger women.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say she targeted victims in Westlake Village, West Hollywood, Los Angeles and Beverly Hills from 2023 to 2025. They say she posed as a girlfriend and travel companion to gain access to the victims\u2019 homes and then allegedly stole cash, gold and high-end designer items.<\/p>\n

She was charged with two counts each of grand theft and unauthorized use of personal identifying information, along with one count each of first-degree residential burglary and first-degree residential burglary with a person present, according to the District Attorney\u2019s Office. She is due back in court Monday for a pretrial conference.<\/p>\n

Cloobeck had been closely tied with Swalwell, D-Dublin, who suspended his gubernatorial campaign and resigned from Congress after a woman alleged he drugged her and sexually assaulted her in a West Hollywood hotel in 2018. Swalwell has denied her account and other allegations of sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n

Swalwell had been a house guest of Cloobeck until the latest allegation surfaced, when Cloobeck withdrew his financial backing of the disgraced politician, according to published reports.<\/p>\n

Cloobeck and Lavie had publicly announced plans to get married in Jerusalem, but Lavie was subsequently barred from leaving the state due to her pending criminal case.<\/p>\n

Lavie is due back in a Van Nuys courtroom Monday after being ordered last week to remain jailed without bail following her arrest on a similar case in Riverside County<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of her attorneys, Jeremy Lessem, told reporters outside court after last week\u2019s hearing that the defense may file a motion to have Lavie placed in a mental health diversion program.<\/p>\n

Lavie had been free on bail, but she was arrested last week in connection with a warrant issued in Riverside County, where she was charged with grand theft. According to the Indio Police Department, a man invited Lavie to his home and attend the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in April of last year. The man later accused her of stealing an $8,600 Rolex watch, $700 Louis Vuitton Aviator glasses and an $1,800 Louis Vuitton cardholder wallet, according to an arrest warrant declaration filed by Indio police.<\/p>\n

While she was free on bail, Lavie had been ordered to wear an ankle-monitoring device and stay away from the alleged victims, but she allegedly removed the monitoring device prior to her arrest last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billionaire and former gubernatorial candidate Stephen Cloobeck pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he tried to dissuade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2029,7,9,8,9548,1312,138,21497,47,137,100,612,238,136],"class_list":["post-426809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-beverly-hills","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-coachella-valley","tag-courts","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-indio","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-news","tag-riverside-county","tag-theft","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}