Former “NCIS” star Diane Neal shocked her fans this week by going public with a series of accusations at her magician ex-boyfriend JB Benn. Neal’s allegations include that Benn stalked her, abused her both physically and mentally, and even slashed the throat of their poodle.
Diane Neal’s Nightmare Ex
Fox News reported that Neal, who played prosecutor Casey Novak on “Law & Order SVU” for 11 years, said in an amended complaint to a lawsuit that Benn is a “manipulative and maniacal fraudster.”
Neal said she met Benn in December of 2013, which is while starring on “NCIS” and after her long stint on “Law & Order SVU”.
The illusionist was billed as a celebrity magician at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s annual Deer Valley Celebrity SkiFest fundraiser. Neal caught Benn’s attention while subbing in to host an auction. And says the two moved in together after just two months of dating.
“It was romantic,” Neal remembered. “It was a different kind of romance. It wasn’t like hot-fire passion. But it was sweet, and it was simple.”
Neal’s Ongoing Lawsuit
In the complaint, Diane Neal, 43, accuses JB Benn, 44, of throwing her out of the $529,000 home that she helped to pay for.
“At the time, the parties agreed that Benn initially would take title of the property under his name alone in order to avoid complicating issues related to Neal’s divorce, then add Neal to the title once those issues were resolved,” her claim states.
Court papers in the lawsuit, which has been ongoing for over two years, show that Neal claims Benn “defrauded her of millions” and “violently inflicted emotional distress” on her via “a campaign of isolation, terror and (physical and sexual) assault, and destroyed her reputation by doing so.”
JB Benn Accused Of Abuse
“I’m so upset because it’s the first time that anyone has raised a hand to me … and it wasn’t a hand by the way. He never uses his hands. He kicks,” Neal told reporters this week.
In an August 2017 complaint, Neal said that Benn kicked her repeatedly. And that he kicked with such force that she was left bruised and beaten on the floor. She added that though she begged her ex to leave, he refused and instead spent the night in her driveway “to prevent her from fleeing.”
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Diane Neal also claimed that on Thanksgiving of 2017, Benn offered to drive her to a friend’s house. He then had her take a muscle relaxant, and as soon as she did, he “refused to drive Neal to the gathering … after a brief verbal argument, Benn again attacked Neal again kicking her until she was black and blue.”
On top of that, Neal alleges that her ex “slashed her toy poodle’s throat and blamed it on a cat.” After her cat disappeared while nursing kittens, Neal claimed the magician “bragged that he ‘bashed the cat’s brains in.’”
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JB Benn Rebuffs Diane Neal’s Assault Claim
After things went south, however, Diane Neal broke up with Benn in March of 2018. Days later, she says she woke up to her ex sexually assaulting her while seemingly recording the act.
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Benn has fired back by saying that the sexual assault allegation is “completely false and outrageously interposed as a tactic to cloud the fact that, on the merits, [Neal] has no entitlement to the relief she seeks.”
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Birthday#39 @jaypharoah as Kanye and @axemefink (We’re all making such LOVELY faces;)
Benn went on to say that the actress “will say whatever she believes is necessary to gain sympathy and to support her ongoing vendetta against me.”
“The only thing that [Neal’s] papers prove is that she is so beholden to her anger over our failed relationship that she will swear to anything, without regard to the truth, to paint me in a false light and to try get [sic] from this court what she wants,” Benn allegedly said. “I fear that as this lawsuit progresses, [Neal’s] accusations will grow increasingly outlandish, and will be even less tethered to the supposed matter at issue here—the ownership of the [upstate] property.”
Benn Arrested
JB Benn was reportedly arrested for misdemeanor stalking after he initiated “unwanted contact” with Neal via email. And drove past her home seven times in 15 minutes while she was in her driveway.
In addition, Benn showed up at the Ulster County District Attorneys Office while the actress was there, “causing Neal to fear for her life.”
While in court this week, Benn plead guilty to disorderly conduct. His deal requires he pay $200 in fines and follow a two-year order of protection put in place for Neal,
Diane Neal’s attorney said afterwards, “Ms. Neal has suffered a devastating ordeal—as a victim of domestic abuse that robbed her of her personal security, as a victim of a fraudulent scheme that robbed her of the financial security that she earned during an extremely successful acting career, and as a victim of lawyers and prosecutors who have served her extremely poorly.”
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