Florida OnlyFans model charged with Bitcoin boyfriend's murder gets break in court
If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic abuse, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.
Miami prosecutors have dropped computer hacking charges against a bikini model and her parents in the stabbing death of her boyfriend in a luxury high-rise apartment.
Courtney Clenney, a 28-year-old OnlyFans model with an Instagram following of nearly 2 million, has been in custody since August 2022 after allegedly stabbing her boyfriend Christian Obumseli, 27, in the heart.
The slaying was initially considered self-defense, but investigators continued to dig after vocal concerns from Obumseli's family.
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Courtney Clenney and Christian Obumseli pose for a photo in Palm Springs, Calif., Aug. 14, 2021. Clenney is accused of stabbing Obumseli to death in April 2022. (Dexter Coffman)
Prosecutors later tacked on computer hacking charges against Clenney and her parents after reviewing communications between her dad and her defense team.
But those charges were dropped after the judge ruled the prosecution's use of those communications violated attorneny-client privilege.
Jude Faccidomo, the Clenney family's defense attorney in the hacking case, said the Miami State Attorney's Office should recuse itself from the case after reading the materials because it involved private defense strategy with Courtney Clenney's other lawyers.
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Deborah Clenney and Kim Clenney smile as their attorney, Jude Faccidomo, speaks to the press in Coconut Grove, Fla., Feb. 7, 2024. (Alon Skuy for Fox News Digital)
A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office said investigators were not aware of an attorney-client relationship between Clenney's parents and Prieto.
"Judge Laura Cruz found that prosecutors were unaware that attorney Frank Prieto represented Kim and Deborah Clenney since a retainer agreement hiring him was only produced after their arrest," Ed Griffith, the spokesperson, said in a statement. "Additionally, attorney Prieto never publicly indicated that he represented Kim and Deborah Clenney, only their daughter."
Police read the texts, saw evidence of a crime and shared it with prosecutors, he said. However, after the judge's decision, they had to be dropped.
Excerpts from a group text conversation between Courtney Clenney's parents and her attorneys are recreated in an illustration. (Fox News Digital)
Kim Clenney, 60, and Deborah Clenney, 57, are her father and mother.
The parents are accused of discussing PIN and password options in a group text with four of their daughter's lawyers — Frank Prieto, Sabrina Puglisi, Manuel Recio and Pamela Corvalan, who allegedly obtained the login details from the jailed murder suspect.
Neither Prieto nor his office responded to requests for comment Friday.
"Will you be sending the laptop PIN ideas so we can try them before you see her again?" Kim Clenney wrote to the group Sept. 26, 2022, according to a warrant for his arrest in Texas.
"Good evening guys. I have a couple that I can forward to you tomorrow," Prieto replied. Four days later, the father wrote back, "Hell yeah! That PIN worked!"
Courtney Clenney poses for a photo in Aspen, Colo., Feb. 2, 2022. (@dextercoffman)
Prieto previously told Fox News Digital there was "clear evidence of self-defense" and that Obumseli had choked Clenney in the moments before the stabbing.
"Courtney had no choice but to meet force with force," he said.
The couple had a fiery relationship, friends told Fox News Digital. Although they claimed Clenney was often the aggressor. Even though she sought a restraining order against Obumseli before his death, videos have emerged of her screaming at him, hitting him and using racial slurs.
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The two met during a trip to Tulum, Mexico, and began dating after they returned to the U.S. They relocated from Austin, Texas, to Miami, where Clenney pursued her OnlyFans modeling career and Obumseli traded cryptocurrency and became her manager.
In a February 2022 video recorded during a trip to Aspen, Colorado, and made public this January, Clenney shouted at and repeatedly struck Obumseli in front of someone who recorded the encounter.
She blamed Obumseli for her own drinking, telling him he was "fired" and screaming at him to leave. She also accused him of costing her money and flirting with other women. Less than two months later, she allegedly stabbed him to death.
OnlyFans model Courtney Clenney sits in the courtroom during a hearing at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami Dec. 8, 2022. (Pool via Miami Herald)
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Lawyers for Obumseli's family say a long trail of evidence shows Clenney was the manipulative abuser with a history of domestic violence, not him.
Exclusive photos obtained by Fox News Digital show that in a photo shoot from later on the same trip, she had blood on her arm and taped fingers on her right hand.
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Courtney Clenney and Christian Obumseli pose for a photo in Palm Springs, Calif., Aug. 14, 2021. (Dexter Coffman)
At another point during the trip, Obumseli showed up with a fresh stitch on his face, according to a mutual friend.
"Christian was a very large guy, and he could’ve easily done damage if he wanted to, but he never fought back," the friend told Fox News Digital. "He always would just take the abuse from her, and literally the video shows everything."
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A crime scene photo shows the serrated kitchen knife Clenney allegedly used to stab Obumseli to death. (Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office)
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Obumseli's family is suing the building manager of the luxury condo where the couple lived and the security firm that allegedly stood outside the couple's apartment doing nothing as the stabbing took place, Obumseli family attorney Kimberly Wald told Fox News Digital.
The family also has a pending lawsuit against Clenney.
She is facing a second-degree murder charge for her boyfriend's death.
If you or someone you know is the victim of domestic abuse, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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