Earlier today, a report was published in (ugh) The Daily Mail claiming to have an exclusive scoop on former Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, the essence of which is that Lee, according to an anonymous source, habitually sexually harassed nurses who worked with him at his Los Angeles home. Groping them, walking around naked, making crude jokes, propositioning them while he was in the shower, the whole thing. This is all tied to an also anonymous nursing company, whose rep tells the tabloid—whose homepage currently features several links promising topless shots of famous women—that the company received several complaints about the 95-year-old, including one from the company’s owner, before ending its business relationship with him last year.
Meanwhile, a rep for Vitale Nursing Inc., which is currently working with Lee, says they have received zero complaints about him, calling him “polite, kind, and respectful.” Lee’s attorney Tom Lallas has sent a cease and desist letter to the anonymous nursing company, which Lallas argues has not filed a police report or civil action against Lee as a result of the reported harassment, but instead has repeatedly demanded money. The Daily Mail story, he says, is the result of his and his client’s refusal to pay. “Mr. Lee categorically denies these false and despicable allegations and he fully intends to fight to protect his stellar good name and impeccable character,” he says in a statement.
A couple of weeks back, on December 29, Lee filed a police report after discovering that someone had stolen $300,000 from him using a forged check. Then it was revealed that someone had bought a $850,000 condo in his name without his knowledge, a fact that came to light when his team did a full audit of his accounts following the forged check. Whether this is in any way related to the sexual harassment claims—which Lee and his team claim are a shakedown—is unclear.