Lawrenceville, Ga. – The “runaway bride,” who took off days before her lavish wedding in 2005, is suing her former fiancé for $500,000, claiming he defrauded her out of her share of their assets.
Jennifer Wilbanks is seeking $250,000 as her share of a home she says John C. Mason purchased through the partnership with proceeds from $500,000 received for selling their story.
Wilbanks and Mason broke up for good in May, about a year after her excursion to Las Vegas and New Mexico made international headlines while hundreds of friends and family members searched for her back home in suburban Atlanta.
Wilbanks also wants $250,000 in punitive damages for alleged abuse of the power of attorney she granted for Mason to handle their affairs.
In addition, letters included as exhibits in the lawsuit show that the former couple has been in dispute over personal property Wilbanks claims Mason has kept. The items include a ladder that belonged to her father, a gold-colored sofa, a new vacuum cleaner and wedding-shower gifts. Mason’s attorney wrote to Wilbanks’ attorney in July that his client had agreed to deliver those items. The court filings do not show whether the items were returned.
Four days after her disappearance, Wilbanks called Mason from Albuquerque, claiming to have been abducted and sexually assaulted. She later recanted, saying she fled because of unspecified personal issues, and pleaded no contest to telling police a phony story.
She was sentenced to two years’ probation and performed community service that included mowing the lawns of public buildings.
