The FBI Warned That Lady Gaga’s $500,000 Reward for Her Dogs’ Return Would ‘Open Up a Pandora’s Box’
In February 2021, Lady Gaga made headlines for a reason not related to her music or acting career — her two French bulldogs, Koji and Gustav, were stolen in a robbery (her other dog, Asia, was able to get away). Gaga’s assistant, who was walking the dogs, was shot in the process.
Fortunately, her dog walker, Ryan Fischer, survived, and Gaga immediately offered an enormous reward of $500,000 — no questions asked — for the safe return of her pups. It was clearly effective, as Jennifer McBride turned the dogs in. In the process, five people, including McBride herself, were arrested for the crime.
Now, two years later, McBride is suing Gaga for failing to pay her the $500,000, according to Buzzfeed News. Since McBride pleaded no contest to being involved in the crime, Gaga surely is in no hurry to pay her. That being said, a former FBI agent once warned her that something like this could happen, claiming to offer such a reward could “open up a Pandora’s box of sorts.” It appears as if he was right.
How McBride was involved in the dog theft scandal
Two days after the armed robbery occurred, McBride returned Gaga’s dogs to the LAPD’s Olympic Community Police Station. Initially, the police believed she was uninvolved and unassociated with the incident. But soon after, the police discovered she had a relationship with the father of one of the men arrested for the robbery.
McBride was arrested for accessory to an attempted murder. In December 2022, she pleaded no contest to one count of receiving stolen property and was sentenced to two years of probation.
The lawsuit against Lady Gaga
In the new lawsuit, McBride claims that she never received her $500,000 reward. The lawsuit states that Gaga “defrauded” McBridge by making a promise she didn’t intend to keep, reminding her that she said she’d pay the reward “with no questions asked” for the safe return of her dogs.
The lawsuit goes on to claim that McBride has suffered compensatory damages, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, and pain and suffering as a result of not receiving the reward money. She is suing for attorneys’ fees and additional compensation along with the $500,000.
It’s doubtful that Gaga will have to pay McBride anything, as LA lawyer Louis Shapiro was quoted as saying (in 2021):
“This is an unusual reward amount. We don’t really know if this $500,000 reward is in fact a no-questions-asked offer. There’s no contract made here. It could just be a ruse to lure in whoever did this.”
The Independent
Still, this issue was predicted by an ex-FBI agent in 2021.
Gaga was under fire for her ‘no questions asked’ reward offer
In February 2021, when Gaga announced her offer of a $500,000 “no questions asked” cash reward for the return of her dogs, she faced backlash from law enforcement, according to The Independent. Former FBI agent Frank Montoya, Jr. blasted her decision, stating that it impedes the LAPD’s investigation and creates an incentive for criminals to steal celebrity dogs and return them for exorbitant amounts of money.
Montoya told The Daily Mail: “It’s always been an option for opportunistic criminals. But… paying, no questions asked, can open up a Pandora’s box of sorts. She should give the investigation a chance. After all, the dogs notwithstanding, a human being was shot.”
