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Heath Ledger Cocaine Video Described in Lawsuit
Friday April 11, 2008

Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger attends the New York premiere of "I'm Not There" presented by The Cinema Society and Hogan on November 13, 2007 in New York City.
Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

A lawsuit filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court alleges that two photographers set up Heath Ledger at a 2006 SAG after-party, first plying him with cocaine and then secretly videotaping him.

In the suit the plaintiff, Jane Doe (a pseudonym), who was working as a freelance reporter for People magazine at the time, recounts events that took place at place Chateau Marmont hotel.

Doe alleges that she and her boyfriend at the time, Darren Banks, one of the Splash News photographers named in the lawsuit, met Ledger on the grounds of
the hotel and brought him, along with another Splash photographer, Eric Munn, to a room Doe had booked for the evening assignment. According to the suit Munn gave Ledger cocaine and the actor already had some of his own. Munn then left the room.

From the balcony, Munn secretly recorded what was going on. Doe claims she didn't know that she was being videotaped. Once Ledger spotted the camera, he demanded the tape be destroyed and the photographers agreed.

However, after his death, the tape was sold to "Entertainment Tonight" for $200,000. "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider" were hit with a firestorm of criticism after promoting their video exclusive about the
actor's drug use. The shows ultimately did not air the segment and issued an apology. Ledger's rep stated at the time that at no point on the tape did the actor use drugs.

Doe seeks unspecified damages for fraud, distress and privacy violations.

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