Peter BarrerasKelsey Grammer got swept up in some bad business.
According to Radar, the 57-year-old Frasier star is being sued by actress Lydia Cornell regarding an internet-based Ponzi scheme, Staropoly.com. But his lawyer, Marty Singer, tells E! News "any claims filed against Kelsey Grammer concerning Staropoly are absurd and without merit."
Singer says Grammer "in fact lost $1 million of his own money" through ties to the now defunct site.
"Kelsey received nothing from the venture, monetarily or otherwise," Singer adds. "Kelsey has not been contacted by any of the attorneys in the lawsuit, [has] not been served and has not been contacted by any governmental agency."
Cornell and her fellow plaintiffs are claiming that Alex Varanos, the man behind the scheme, used Grammer's name to help convince others to join the networking site said to harness star power. Singer, however, tells E! News, "If Alex Varanos told people that TODHD [Staropoly's parent company] was Kelsey's network, then it was done without Kelsey's authorization, and against Kelsey's strenuous objections."
According to documents obtained by Radar, a hearing regarding the lawsuit will take place on July 27.