Ex-Miss New Mexico Teen USA being sued by ex-boyfriend for squandering his money

LIZ KRANZ, Miss New Mexico Teen USA 2007 who placed in Top 15 of Miss Teen USA 2007

She’s pretty shady.

That’s according to a new lawsuit filed by a Manhattan hedge-funder who claims his ex-beauty-queen girlfriend took him for a $96,000 ride during and after their brief relationship.

Rishi Bajaj, 33, says he opened his heart, then his wallet, to Miss New Mexico Teen USA 2007 Liz Kranz after she told him she was considering selling her eggs to raise cash for a relative in rehab.

The sob story got the beauty a $20,000 loan from Bajaj, he claims in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
Bajaj, who co-manages the $620 million hedge fund Altai Capital, then told Kranz, 24, to pick out a car for the couple to share — and was “surprised” when she selected a 2012 BMW that came with a $17,070 down payment.

They met in July 2012 and dated for “several months,” even vacationing together in Italy, where, Bajaj said in court papers, he let Kranz use his American Express card.

Kranz, of the Lower East Side, was also allowed to use Bajaj’s AmEx to buy a dress for a wedding they attended. 

Bajaj and Kranz, who lived briefly in LA, eventually broke up. There were “disagreements about their remaining obligations to each other,” Bajaj said in court papers. 

He claims the pageant queen kept her hands on his credit card and racked up tens of thousands in charges.
Kranz — who proclaimed in her pageant days that she was “so proud of being chosen Miss Congeniality two years running” — plunked down thousands of dollars at shops including Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstroms and Helmut Lang, court papers allege.

Rishi Bajaj

She’s accused of spending $1,500 in one October visit to Barney’s in New York, $11,000 at Croft House, an LA furniture store, and $6,800 at Design Within Reach.

She has returned the BMW and allegedly blew off an agreement to repay her debts in installments, Bajaj alleges. 

In all, Bajaj claims Kranz spent $58,860 on his credit card over three months last year. In a November letter, his lawyer accused her of “theft, fraud and other egregious misconduct” and demanded she repay the full $58,860 in credit-card purchases. 

He wants the court to force Kranz to repay him at least $40,000 of the credit-card charges as well as the $20,000 loan and the BMW down payment plus an $1,853.73 late fee. 

Now dating mixed-martial-arts hunk Max McGarr, Kranz did not respond to requests for comment. 

 Source: The New York Post, March 3, 2013

Kranz (center) poses with contestants Kelsey Brigel (left) and Alyssa Campanella (right).