‘I now realize I was foolish’: Widow of early Roblox programmer allegedly defrauded out of $6 million trying to buy out a man from his escort contract

Marianne Flippo paid a male escort roughly $635,000 for eight months of exclusive companionship. Then, according to a lawsuit filed this week in Manhattan Supreme Court, he and his agency allegedly told her the only way to make the arrangement permanent was to pay $10 million to buy him out of his contract.

“I now recognize that I was the victim of a horrendous scheme by Starr who is a sociopath who lacks any conscience,” Flippo said in a sworn affirmation filed with the court.

The suit names the escort as Gregg Starr, an employee of an agency called Cowboys 4 Angels, and describes Marianne as newly widowed, managing money alone for the first time, and living with a rare genetic disorder that heightened her vulnerability to drugs and alcohol. Court documents allege Starr built her trust before defrauding her of nearly $6 million.

During a February 2026 trip to visit Starr’s mother, who suffered from dementia, two agency employees showed up unannounced and pressed Flippo to drink at lunch, despite knowing she was on medication for a recent surgery. The two ordered shots for the table, and after roughly five drinks, they produced an “Exit Agreement” requiring her to pay $10 million to end Starr’s ties to the agency.

“While I was drunk and confused (all of which was exacerbated by my medications and medical condition), Starr and Collins began to press me to sign the Exit Agreement,” Flippo said in her affirmation. She says she was taken to a hotel room and had never seen the document before that day. The agreement states that “under no circumstances has physical companionship been purchased for........

© Fortune