Aniston, Hathaway among stars stung by beauty salon owner

THE owner of a Beverly Hills beauty salon has been arrested on charges of stealing credit card information from actresses Jennifer Aniston, Anne Hathaway and Liv Tyler and running up tens of thousands of fraudulent payments on their accounts.

According to court documents, a witness claimed that Cher, Melanie Griffith and former Felicity television star Scott Speedman were also victims of the fraud.

The owner of Chez Gabriela Studio is accused of swindling $214,000 (€166,368) from Tyler alone in a five-month period last year, according to a court affidavit.

The US Attorney’s office in Los Angeles said salon owner Maria Gabriella Perez, 51, is accused of making at least $280,000 (€217,656) of fraudulent charges in one year.

Perez is alleged to have used credit card information provided by celebrities and other clients for legitimate services, and later entered the details manually to run up unauthorised charges.

Aniston, Hathaway, Cher, Tyler, Griffith and Speedman were named in the court papers as among those who saw unauthorised charges on their credit cards.

Representatives for Cher told celebrity website TMZ.com that the singer and actress was not a victim and did not know why she had been named in the court papers.

Perez is charged with two counts of fraud and faces a maximum 25 years in prison if convicted.