The suspected hard-partying squatters tormenting wealthy Beverly Hills residents with near-nightly raucous raves include a man accused of beating his ex-girlfriend, and a software engineer, DailyMail.com can reveal.
A frequent visitor to the house who admitted helping organize parties was also involved in an alleged multi-million-dollar student loans scam.
The unruly group are accused of disrupting the neighborhood and trashing the affluent enclave with drug and booze-fueled parties since they began occupying a $4.3million property in October.
And while the occupants claim to be valid tenants, the homeowner and property agent deny any rental agreements exist.
Yet, records reveal the property address has been linked to names of the alleged squatters – several of whom have had previous run-ins with the law.
On Friday DailyMail.com revealed the extent of the partying in the upscale Beverly Crest neighborhood. The house is two doors down from the site where NBA star Lebron James is building his dream home.
The occupants of the $4.3million mansion claim to be valid tenants, but the homeowner and property agent deny any rental agreements exist
Martin Gerardo Vincent, 47,and Veronica Michelle Monger (pictured together) have also been linked to the property, according to residency records
Other celebrities in the area include John Legend and his wife Chrissy Teigen, Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane, and Entourage and Ballers producer Steve Levinson.
Billionaires Jeff Bezos, Steve Wynn and Ron Burkle all live within half a mile of the home.
Neighbors talk of parties starting at midnight and going on past daylight. Detritus found on the cul-de-sac street outside the house includes nitrous oxide canisters – also known as ‘whippets’ – crushed Solo cups, pools of vomit, and condom packets
One alleged squatter, Morgan Gargiulo, 34, was filmed by the mortgage lender for the property, claiming he moved in in October, and rented the entire mansion for $25,000 for the year from an Italian-American man whose phone line is now dead.
In a video clip of the encounter obtained by DailyMail.com, Gargiulo provides the property address as his own and says he has been living there after meeting a man who showed him the home and offered him an ‘amazing deal’.
When asked how the man was able to get access to the keys, he replies: ‘No idea. The guy has had the keys to everything.’
Gargiulo also admits Wi-Fi at the property is registered under his name while the other utilities are included in his purported contract.
When asked how many people are living in the house he responds: ‘Right now, it’s just myself and my three friends,’ – who he identifies as Alex, Kimberly, and Martino.
Keeping Gargiulo in frame, the mortgage lender, who is not seen, then addresses a judge on camera saying: ‘I’m informing them that they’re squatting on the house, hopefully this is enough, your honor’ and that he will ‘give them some time to move out if everybody’s agreeable’.
Alleged squatter Morgan Gargiulo, 34, was filmed by the mortgage lender for the property, claiming he moved in October, and rented the entire mansion for $25,000 for the year from an Italian-American man
Listing agent John Woodward told DailyMail.com he first discovered there were squatters at the home when he went to show the property to prospective buyers in October and found the locks and gate code had been changed
The gated home was owned by Dr. Munir Uwaydah, who fled the US in 2013 amid an investigation into the murder of his mistress. The property was eventually repossessed and is now in the foreclosure process
Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com show Gargiulo was previously evicted from an LA apartment and is currently serving a three-year probation sentence after pleading no contest to a battery charge on December 29.
He was accused of attacking his then-girlfriend in August 2022.
Last year she filed a civil lawsuit against him, claiming he grabbed her hair in a club in a jealous rage, dragged her into his car and drove her to her houseboat, where he allegedly beat and tried to rape her, before falling asleep.
The girlfriend, Elin Kraen, said in her lawsuit that she went to a neighbor’s boat and that person called the police. They interviewed her and arrested Gargiulo.
The incident resulted in his criminal battery charge.
In a temporary restraining order filing, Kraen also claimed Gargiulo attacked her on four previous occasions.
The order was granted by a judge through October 2022.
Gargiulo was convicted of battery last year in relation to the incident, but prosecutors did not file any sexual assault charges.
Gargiulo has not yet filed a legal response to her civil claims. Kraen has asked the judge to issue a default judgment, and the judge is set to consider the request at a hearing in February.
Gargiulo was evicted from his Los Angeles apartment by court order in 2020 after failing to pay $3,235.32 of rent, another court filing shows. he court granted a default judgment against himfor a total of $6,306.60 in January 2020.
The Italian’s record of US residence begins when he married a Ukrainian model and actress, Julia Smushkova, in September 2018. The couple separated just over two years later, divorce records show.
Smushkova posts scantily clad modeling shots on her Instagram page, and claims on her website to have been named one of the ‘top 20 actresses of Ukraine according to Glavcom.ua’.
Listing agent John Woodward said he discovered squatters had taken over the home in October last year.
The property’s mortgage lender, Jeff Scapa, shared videos with DailyMail.com he took of Gargiulo admitting he started moving his belongings into the house ‘the first week of October’.
Journalist and crime writer Mark Ebner was hired by Beverly Crest residents as a private investigator to probe the ‘squatters’.
Ebner told DailyMail.com he saw 30-year-old Avinadav Rubeni frequently visit the house in his 2023 Mercedes Benz.
Rubeni was accused by the Federal Trade Commission to have played a central role in scamming private university alumni in a ‘deceptive’ student loan debt relief scheme.
According to the FTC the scheme involved cold-calling former students struggling to pay their loans, offering debt forgiveness and zero interest rates for a $400 to $1,000 up-front fee.
‘Consumers pay defendants for promised loan forgiveness or permanently reduced monthly payments, but in most instances, receive neither the promised loan forgiveness nor permanently reduced monthly payments,’ a 2017 complaint filed against Rubeni and his company, United Legal Center, among others, the FTC said.
A private investigator probing the house claims he has witnessed the raucous antics from the street
Outraged neighbors told DailyMail.com the parties begin as late as midnight and go on until as late as 9am. Pictured: Guests hanging outside the property during a party
Neighbors complained of the squatters throwing parties almost daily, leaving detritus on the cul-de-sac street outside including nitrous oxide canisters – also known as ‘whippets’ – crushed Solo cups, pools of vomit, and condom packets
Rubeni was banned from marketing debt relief products, and held liable along with his company United Legal Center for a $3,577,000 judgment in August 2018.
He paid at least $250,000 in a settlement with the FTC, though the settlement also stated that it was neither an admission nor denial of the allegations against him.
The same year, he was charged with a DUI, hit-and-run property damage and driving without a license.
He pleaded no contest to reckless driving and the license charges, receiving a total of 48 months’ probation.
Rubeni told DailyMail.com that he was not living at the house, but that he had visited several times and helped organize parties there to raise money for charity.
There are no records suggesting Rubeni lives there.
He confirmed Gargiulo was living there, and believed he was a valid tenant. He said he cut ties with the alleged squatters after getting sick of their squabbling.
Another suspected squatter, Martin Gerardo Vincent, 47, registered a company called Alibi Entertainment Inc. at the Beverly Grove property in November, according to California Secretary of State records.
On his LinkedIn page, under the name Martin Vincent Abella, he listed himself as a director of Las Vegas-based firm Solomon Ventures Inc, which claims it is a ‘Lithium technology and energy corporation in possession of assets of lithium sodium mines valued at $10Billion.’
The cell phone number he listed on his LinkedIn page is the same as the contact number on the party invites posted on events site Get-In.com.
Vincent and Gargiulo did not respond to request for comment.
Ebner said he also unearthed several defunct movie production corporations linked to Vincent in Nevada.
A third suspected squatter, Veronica Monger, 46, is linked to the property on residency records.
Monger was previously registered at Gargiulo’s Playa Vista apartment.
She describes herself on her Instagram page as running an ‘interior design firm in Beverly Hills’, and posted an ad for the 2023 New Years Eve party ‘from 10pm-10am’ at a ‘secret Beverly Hills mansion location’.
‘Ring in the New at Villa Leone! Beverly Hills Mansion in the Hills with Views of the City! Come celebrate with Us!’ Monger wrote on the post.
She also posted a photo earlier on December 31 with Vincent at West Hollywood steakhouse Toca Madera, which is known for its scantily-clad female fire breathers.
Monger at first declined to comment, then after taking advice from her attorney, she told DailyMail.com that she had a valid tenancy agreement, but refused to answer further questions about how she came to live at the mansion.
Monger said that she had hosted ‘shabbat dinners’ at the home, but failed to answer questions about raucous parties or her ’10pm-10am’ party listings.
The gated home on Beverly Grove Place – which has been in the hands of a mortgage lender and is now in pre-foreclosure – has a colorful ownership history itself.
A title report on the property reveals that it was previously owned by hip-hop mogul Damon Dash from 2003 to 2007.
More recently the property was owned by Dr. Munir Uwaydah, who went on the run in 2013 amid an investigation into the murder of his mistress, Maxim model Juliana Redding, and indictments for a multi-million-dollar health insurance fraud.
Uwaydah’s assistant was put on trial for the murder but acquitted in 2013. The doctor was not charged in the murder case and denied involvement. His insurance fraud case, filed by Riverside County prosecutors, is still active according to its court docket.
LAPD Senior Lead Officer James Allen told DailyMail.com he had been handling the police investigation into the squatters.
He said the controversial residents claimed they were friends of Uwaydah, and had been invited by him to live in the home.
But he added that the current ownership of the home is uncertain, has been the subject of a bankruptcy court case, and that the home is entering foreclosure.
‘I guess he left his friends in the house. I guess we can say they’re squatters. But they’re squatters to the owner that’s in foreclosure to the bank,’ Allen said.
‘We’re working on a plan with the bank to evict the individuals because there’s no one at this point to evict them and say they’re there illegally.
‘I’ve submitted it to the City Attorney. I’m citing the home every time we get a radio call for a party.
‘They’re using the home outside of its original purpose, illegally.’
City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto did not respond to a request for comment.
Allen said that because the squatters got their drivers licenses registered at the home, the case had to go through a court eviction process.
‘If you were able to grab a house illegally, and I didn’t catch you during that process, but now you have an ID because you went to DMV and you got mail to that house, then it has to go through the eviction process,’ he said. ‘I’m no longer able to just take you out of that home.’
