Judge issues sanctions for fraudulent documents in Miss America ownership dispute
Contestants enter the stage during the 2018 Miss America competition show at the Boardwalk Hall Arena on Sept. 10, 2017, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (Photo by Donald Kravitz/Getty Images for Dick Clark Productions)
A federal judge has ruled that a real estate developer and his lawyer created fraudulent documents in an effort to boost their ownership claim over the Miss America beauty pageant.
According to Bloomberg Law, U.S. District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks of the Southern District of Florida ruled Monday that real estate developer Glenn Straub and his attorney, Craig T. Galle of Wellington, Florida, had filed fake corporate documents before him, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Florida, and state courts in New Jersey and Florida in their ongoing ownership dispute over the pageant with Robin Fleming, the Miss America owner and director.
In his opinion, Middlebrooks dismissed a counterclaim that had been filed by Straub and Galle after declaring that their filings had been in bad faith. He also sanctioned them, barring them from filing additional counterclaims against Fleming and ordering them to cover her attorney fees and expenses.
“The fabrications are willful and egregious, constitute fraud upon the court, and no alternative to dismissal of the counterclaim with prejudice would be sufficient,” Middlebrooks said.
Fleming had originally filed a $500 million complaint against Straub in December 2024 accusing him of using fraud and extortion in his effort to try and seize control of the pageant. Fleming claimed that Straub’s actions caused the pageant to go bankrupt and filed for Chapter 11 protection. The bankruptcy case was dismissed after a few weeks after Straub said a $4 million debt had been satisfied, according to Bloomberg Law.
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