On October 13, 2005, diamond heiress and actress Zeta Graff filed a lawsuit against Hilton for slander. The lawsuit alleges that Hilton deliberately gave a false story to The New York Post in order to humiliate Graff. Graff is seeking ten million dollars in damages.
According to the story as originally published in The New York Post, Graff confronted Hilton in the London nightclub Kabaret, tried to rip a diamond necklace off Hilton's neck, and had to be restrained and thrown out of the club by security [18]. It was later revealed that the story was only partially true. Graff and Hilton did meet in the nightclub that night, but had only a brief argument. Hilton tried to have Graff thrown out but the club's owner refused. Hilton and her friends left the club in protest while Graff remained behind.
In her deposition, Hilton denied planting the story in The New York Post and even claimed not to be aware of it until much later. However, Hilton's former publicist Robert Shuter gave sworn testimony that he and Paris worked together to create the story, and he was told by her to call The New York Post and give them the story as an anonymous source [19].
