Los Angeles is known for outlandish schemes targeting the rich.
But the allegations facing Adva Lavie are unusual.
The social media influencer is accused of targeting older men across L.A. County through dating apps and social media platforms, posing as their girlfriend before robbing their homes.
She has denied the allegations. At the same time, more men have come forward to make allegations against her.
The case has been marked by twists and turns, including a connection to a one-time candidate for California governor.
Her attorney says Lavie suffered from years of abuse. Instead of using traditional dating apps, the attorney said, she was on “sugar daddy websites” where the men paid for control.
What is she accused of doing?
Lavie — who authorities say also goes by the names Mia Ventura, Shoshana and Shana — was arrested earlier this year and is accused of luring wealthy older men and younger women into dates before robbing, stealing from and extorting them in the tony haunts of Westlake Village, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
She is facing trial on two counts of grand theft and two counts of first-degree residential burglary from incidents in L.A. County. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges that could result in a prison sentence of more than 11 years.
She was arrested again last week after a Riverside County caper in which she allegedly stole a man’s Rolex and luxury Louis Vuitton accessories and drove off in his Tesla Cybertruck. During that arrest, Beverly Hills officers learned she had removed her court-ordered GPS monitoring ankle bracelet, leading her to be jailed.
How do authorities describe her alleged scam?
Between 2023 and 2025, Lavie allegedly used dating apps and developed relationships to steal from wealthy older men and younger women in Westlake Village, West Hollywood, Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, the Los Angeles County District Attorney said earlier this year.
Lavie allegedly posed as their girlfriend and stole cash, gold and high-end designer items from their homes, authorities say. If convicted, she could get 11 years and eight months in prison.
The model first won international attention in October, when the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department released a special bulletin with Lavie’s photo and physical description — 5 feet 7 and 104 pounds — and encouraged possible victims to contact sheriff’s detectives.
Lavie had allegedly used dating apps and social media platforms to target older men across the county, exploit their desire for sex, and stole from them. Investigators said that after posing as a girlfriend or companion, Lavie would burglarize the men’s homes.
Her charges, according to investigators, stem from incidents involving five alleged victims.
After the Sheriff’s Department released its initial bulletin, more than 10 other potential victims have come forward with allegations, Det. Angela Lopez told The Times in 2025. Alleged victims have also filed police reports against Lavie in Hermosa Beach; Henderson, Nev.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; as well as in France and Italy.
In one of her cases, prosecutors allege Lavie stole $121,500 from a 78-year-old man she was dating. According to Los Angeles County court records, Lavie allegedly took $17,500 in U.S. currency, $100,000 in designer clothes and gold coins valued at $4,000 from the man’s Van Nuys home.
Lavie posted an “apartment tour” on TikTok and “posted video which showed the stolen clothing in her closet,” authorities say.
Prosecutors further allege Lavie told that man that her mother had died and asked him for $25,000 to cover funeral expenses. According to detectives, her mother was “very much alive.”
In addition to older men she met online, Lavie allegedly stole from younger men and women, as well as businesses, according to Lopez. Lavie would allegedly target higher-end items, such as designer clothing and purses. In 2024, investigators allege, Lavie stole credit cards from a podcast green room to spend at a Beverly Hills salon and snatched designer purses from housemates while sharing an Airbnb in Cannes, France.
What is the connection to a one-time governor candidate?
Authorities charged her onetime lover, billionaire Stephen Cloobeck, with tampering with a witness in the case. Lavie bragged on a jailhouse call to her ex-husband, Edan Ives, that if she got out, she would make sure her recent fiancé, Cloobeck, was “addicted to her p—.”
Lavie, 28, told Ives from jail to “use the f out” of a credit card that was in her name that Cloobeck was paying. She then added she didn’t care what Cloobeck thought about her using the card.
Cloobeck — a one-time California gubernatorial candidate ensconced in Democratic political circles — was charged with witness tampering to help Lavie, his former paramour thanks to her work as an OnlyFans model.
Cloobeck, according to a detective’s testimony Monday, is not on speaking terms with Lavie. He has pleaded not guilty.
What is the latest case?
The new warrant that led to her most recent arrest came from an Indio Police Department investigation that alleges Lavie stole from someone at an Airbnb in the desert city last year, taking more than $10,000 worth of property from the victim’s Tesla, according to police spokesperson Sgt. Abe Plata. The theft, he said, was caught on the home’s surveillance footage.
After spending time with Lavie, the victim reported missing a Rolex worth $8,600, Louis Vuitton sunglasses worth about $700 and a Louis Vuitton card holder worth nearly $2,000, Plata said.
In Los Angeles County Superior Court this week for one of Lavie’s other cases, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Friedman revealed investigators are working on additional allegations against Lavie. Sources familiar with the investigation said victims have been reluctant to come forward given the nature of the alleged scam.
In court, the prosecutor told the judge that a jail call revealed she is a flight risk because she talked about going to Israel. She is currently being held in the mental health area of the county jail system.
What is she saying?
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge this week denied a request to be diverted into mental health treatment.
Lavie’s attorneyssought a diversion program, arguing she was a victim of physical and sexual abuse, had been sex trafficked and had extensive post-traumatic stress disorder, as the 29-year-old faces a slew of felony charges for an alleged dating app burglary scheme involving wealthy men and a young woman.
After reviewing extensive mental health examinations of Lavie by defense experts, Judge Diego H. Edber questioned her truthfulness. The judge said the reports state “each of these men provided a large amount of drugs and alcohol. This is just not true.”
Jeremy Lessem, one of Lavie’s attorneys, told the judge her mental health history in court records showed she was abused by her father, her first sexual experience was a rape and her ex-husband was abusive. She had “qualifying mental illness, primarily PTSD,” Lessem said.
Summer Lin contributed to this report.
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