Man sues Tinder date for $200k after she made his life ‘a nightmare’

A Texas man is seeking thousands in damages from a former Tinder flame he claims spread lies about him and ultimately cost him his job.

“I feel terrible,” Joseph Lazarus told the Houston Chronicle. “I feel like I’m living in a nightmare I can’t escape.”

In a defamation suit filed by his attorney, Joseph Matthew, the 32-year-old Marine Corps officer is seeking $200,000 from a woman he met through the dating app in 2014.


The pair’s relationship lasted several months after which Lazarus went on to end the relationship, claiming they simply didn’t hit off. She wanted to remain friends, but everything took a turn when he didn’t.

She allegedly sent a series of menacing text messages — including one in which she allegedly said she’d accuse him of rape if he didn’t pay her $10,000, promising to stop once she got the funds.

The threats continued into 2016, and Lazarus was eventually dismissed from his job at a luxury car enterprise because his boss spotted a concerning post on the user-submitted gossip site, thedirty.com. His employer told him he could not risk the company’s reputation over the harsh and illicit words written about Lazarus.

Titled “Joseph Lazarus is trash,” the post describes him as “creepy” and “a guy who would have sex/rape fat chick just to amuse his friends.”

The documents filed Wednesday were also paired with text messages the woman sent to Lazarus’ friends, claiming he would buy her dildos instead of flowers and that he was a “rapist, cheating liar.”

“I don’t know what she’s talking about,” he told the Chronicle. “I certainly didn’t mail her any sex toys.”

His attorney said he’s taken more than a dozen revenge porn cases, but that it was the first time the alleged victim was a man.

“There’s no way Joe Lazarus can defend himself against these baseless allegations,” Everybody has the right to be left alone. That’s all Joe Lazarus is asking, it to be left alone.Matthew told the newspaper.