A woman linked to Lady Gaga is ineligible for a $500,000 reward in a dognapping case, judge rules

LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles County judge ruled Monday that singer Lady Gaga does not have to pay out the $500,000 reward she promised for the safe return of her French bulldogs following a dog-napping incident in 2021.

The judge’s decision found that Jennifer McBride, one of the suspects in the 2021 incident in which Gaga’s handler was injured by a gunshot, had “unclean hands” and that McBride was therefore “not entitled” to the reward money.

“Although Plaintiff alleges that her motivation was to protect the Bulldogs (and also to collect $500,000.00), this alleged motivation does not negate her guilt on the charge, since she admitted knowing that she was preserving the Bulldogs “that it was stolen property,” the ruling states.

After being formally charged in the dog snatching case in April 2021, McBride filed a lawsuit in 2022 against Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, of her dogs.

Fraud by false promise and fraud by misrepresentation were also listed in the lawsuit as basis for damages.

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According to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, McBride is currently on probation after pleading guilty to receiving stolen property valued at more than $950.

She was initially charged with accessory after the fact and obtaining stolen property, but the accessory after the fact charge was simultaneously dismissed as part of a plea deal.

CNN has reached out to both McBride and Gaga’s lawyers for comment.