Lara Sophia 
Real Housewives of New Jersey star Margaret Josephs settles $20k lawsuit with accountant via Venmo after initially claiming the lawsuit was extortion.
This is margaret josephs lawsuit where Margaret Josephs and her husband, Joe Benigno, have settled a $20k lawsuit with their accountant out of court.
The 56-year-old sent her former accountant, Stephen B. Wetter, $2k via Venmo in order to settle their ongoing legal battle.
After receiving the funds, Wetter voluntarily agreed to dismiss his complaint against the RHONJ couple.
A judge signed off on the dismissal request on May 30.
“Defendant sent payment of $2,000.00 to plaintiff via Venmo. Plaintiff acknowledges receipt of same,” the settlement agreement reads.
According to sources, Margaret Josephs is thrilled to put this legal mess behind her and move on.
An insider told The U.S. Sun:
“Margaret is very pleased the case was dismissed after sending the plaintiff some money to move on peacefully. They’re old family friends, and she felt bad for him. There are no hard feelings. It would’ve cost her more money to pay an attorney.”
Margaret, Joe, and Wetter were scheduled to appear at the Bergen County Courthouse on May 30 at 8.45; however, that never happened due to the out-of-court settlement.
The RHONJ source noted: “It would’ve looked bad for Stephen if they went to trial. He could have gotten in a lot of trouble for faking an attorney’s letter.”
In February, Wetter sued Margaret Josephs and her husband, Joe Benigno, demanding a total of $20,000 for helping the Bravo couple prepare their taxes. Wetter wanted $15,000 for services performed plus $5,000 in legal fees.
Wetter previously claimed that he was “retained by the defendants to prepare financial statements and related tax returns” from 2008 until 2019/2020.
He continued: “About three years ago, they stopped paying me for work performed. Eventually, I stopped working for them. They say they have no money, but I believe this is untrue.”
At the time, Margaret called Wetter’s legal threat “absurd” and an attempt “to extort funds.” She then accused the accountant of creating fake legal letterheads. In her court filing, Margaret alleged, “There is no such [law] firm, no attorney name, letterhead, address, email.”
Back in April, a rep for Margaret went on to say that they believe Wetter’s case “is going to be dismissed soon as statements Stephen made are completely false.”
Despite their confidence, it seems Margaret Josephs didn’t want to take any chances and instead decided to settle with Wetter out of court.
Part two of the Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion airs on Tuesday at 8 pm on Bravo.
Thoughts on this all? Sound off below!
The lawsuit involving RHONJ’s Margaret Josephs was related to [specify the nature of the lawsuit, e.g., defamation, breach of contract, etc.]. The details of the specific allegations and parties involved have not been provided in the news snippet.
The lawsuit has been settled for $20,000. This means that the parties involved reached an agreement, and Margaret Josephs agreed to pay $20,000 to resolve the matter.
As of the current news update, there have been no statements released from Margaret Josephs or any other parties involved regarding the settlement. It’s essential to keep an eye out for any further updates or official statements in the future.
