Nicholas Loeb, an actor and entrepreneur known for a legal dispute with actress Sofia Vergara over frozen embryos, has filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court claiming he was defrauded out of nearly $40,000 by German director Robert Schwentke.
According to the complaint, Loeb was developing a film titled The Art of the Con, described as a “historically inspired heist film dramatising the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in the early 20th century.” He sought to hire Schwentke, known for directing the 2017 film The Captain, to lead the project.
Loeb alleges that Schwentke agreed to join the project in 2022 on the condition that his preferred screenwriter, Matthew Wilder, be retained to rewrite the script. Based on this, Loeb paid Wilder $25,000, and later an additional $12,500 in January 2023 for a second rewrite, despite his initial reluctance to hire the writer.
In the lawsuit, Loeb claims he retained Wilder solely to secure Schwentke’s participation as director. Schwentke allegedly expressed enthusiasm about the film, stating that directing a “Lubitsch-style elegant heist-comedy” would be among the highlights of his career.
According to the filing, Schwentke ceased communication for several months before reappearing in August 2023 with a request for a third rewrite by Wilder, this time with a $25,000 fee. Loeb claims that Schwentke then withdrew from the project entirely in March 2024, leaving him with unrecovered expenses exceeding $37,000.
Loeb is seeking unspecified damages, asserting that Schwentke and Wilder engaged in “willful, malicious, and fraudulent conduct.” His attorney, Andrew B. Smith, stated that Loeb believes he was “swindled by Schwentke in collusion with his friend, costing him millions.”
The legal filing follows Loeb’s previous high-profile case involving Vergara, in which he unsuccessfully sought custody of embryos the couple had created via in vitro fertilization. A court ultimately ruled in Vergara’s favor, barring Loeb from using a surrogate to bring the embryos to term.
As of publication, Schwentke and Wilder have not responded to requests for comment.