Khloé Kardashian Fights Back Against Claim She Stole Bodysuit Design: Hires High-Powered Attorney

Khloé Kardashian is ready for a bodysuit battle.

The 32-year-old reality star has hired renowned attorney Marty Singer as she considers her legal options after designer Destiney Bleu accused her of knocking off her crystal-covered bodysuit designs.

On June 2nd, Bleu quote tweeted Khloé’s Good American promotional video, writing, “When someone buys 1 of everything on your site, has you make them custom @dbleudazzled work, never posts it or wears it, then copies it.”

Then last week, Bleu’s lawyer released a 27-page letter reiterating her claim that Khloé and her design team at Good American copied a number of her bedazzled bodysuit styles in their latest collection. The letter included emails and text correspondences between Bleu and Khloé’s then-stylist Monica Rose as well as Khloé’s assistant Alexa Okyle, asking that certain designs from Debleudazzed be sent to Khloé.

On June 13, Singer sent a seven-page legal letter to Destiney Bleu’s lawyer calling the designer’s accusations an “absolute lie” and demanding that Bleu stops defaming Khloé and Good American or further legal action will be pursued.

“In order for your client Destiney Bleu to get her 15 minutes of fame, you and your client outrageously defamed Good American and Mr. Kardashian by falsely stating that my clients stole or copied your client’s bodysuit designs,” Singer writes in the letter obtained by PEOPLE. “Your client has also brazenly misappropriated Ms. Kardashian’s name and photograph — including photographs she has taken from Mr. Kardashian’s Instagram account without authorization which your client freely admits as generated ‘a ton of sales.'”

And it turns out it was a catsuit (not a bodysuit) that started the whole catfight.

The letter includes the below photo of a catsuit covered in crystals (with long sleeves and full pants), a completely different style than the bodysuits featured in the upcoming Good American launch.

“Although, the stylist Monica Rose requested catsuits from your client for Ms. Kardashian on December 2016, the catsuits that were provided to Mrs. Rose for Ms. Kardashian are completely different from the catsuit deputized in you client’s June 2, 2017 Tweet which she falsely claims was copied by Good American,” the letter from Singer states. “The catsuits requested are full-bodied, long-sleeved and lined with crystals distributed evenly all over the garments.”

The catsuit in the photo below was the one used in Bleu’s original Tweet calling out Khloé for copyright infringement, which Singer writes was included to “mislead the public.”

Singer concludes that Bleu’s “brazen commercial exploitation of Ms. Kardashian’s name and photograph on her social media accounts in order to create publicity and generate sales of her merchandise expose her to substantial liability for misappropriation of Ms. Kardashian’s valuable rights of publicity. Accordingly, we demand your client immediately delete the false and defamatory statements about my clients from her social media posts and that she issue a retraction and a sincere apology to my clients. Should she refuse to do so, my clients intent to take all necessary and appropriate actions to enforce their frights. If this matter is not resolved to my clients’ satisfaction, then your clients proceed at their peril.”

Over the phone, Singer told PEOPLE in an exclusive statement: “We may absolutely take them to court because she absolutely defamed Khloé. She actually said she stole it from me. She ripped us off. And Khloé had no idea.”

For her part, Bleu is not backing down.

In the 27-page letter issued by her team on June 8, her lawyer explains, “Destiney has a constitutionally-protected right to inform others that Khloé Kardashian has copied her designs. She will not silently abdicate that right in response to a frivolous, two-bit email from you threatening legal action. If Khloé wants to continue stealing designs from indie creators and mass produce them with no credit, then Khloé will rightly face judgment in the court of public opinion.”

The designer, whose clients include Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne and Cirque du Soleil performers, told WWD that her Debleudazzed business started on Etsy and now has grown to a six-person team with an annual sales income of $685,000.

She added that stylists recently confronted her to say they spotted her designs on the set of Good American photo shoots.

“I was just hurt when I found that out,” she told WWD. “I was like, ‘Oh man, I don’t want to have to go through this.’ I speak up for myself. I’ve been doing this by myself and figuring this out for a long time,” she said. “It might not affect my sales or it might. It’s frustrating that it makes me feel a way toward people that they might do this — especially the Nipple Burst design. It’s just frustrating that someone of that caliber is going to implement them into their line where I thought they were a fan of my brand.”

After Bleu’s initial Tweet, the denim brand was quick to respond to the allegations, posting three images in a row on Instagram of Cher, Diana Ross, and Britney Spears all wearing sheer, glittery bodysuits, with the caption, “Important to know your fashion history #nofrauds.”

Singer echoes that sentiment in his letter to Bleu’s attorney, writing: “The embellished bodysuits which your client falsely claims were copied from your client’s designs are part of a line of 11 pieces that were inspired by the 1980’s and 1990’s styles, including the iconic black sequined catsuit first worn by Cher 25 years ago, and are meant to complement Good American jeans.”

In response to Bleu’s lawyer’s claims, the denim brand released the following statement to PEOPLE:

“Ms Bleu’s claim that Good American and Khloé Kardashian copied or stole her designs is flagrantly false and little more than a cheap publicity stunt and an attempt by Ms Bleu to get her 15 minutes of fame. Ms. Bleu did not create the concept or design of a bodysuit with crystals – a fashion style that has been around for decades as evidenced by the fact that Cher has been wearing these styles for over 25 years. The Good American design team designed a range of eleven bodysuits and had never heard of Ms. Bleu or seen her designs.

The letter from her lawyer sent to the press for no legitimate reason – is outrageous, defamatory and misleading in the extreme. Good American will absolutely not stand for anyone trying to damage its reputation and plans to deal with this through the proper legal channels.”

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