Denise Richards’ estranged husband, Aaron Phypers, claimed he didn’t break the law by leaking her nude photos on Tuesday, July 29. Now, a legal expert weighs in exclusively with Us Weekly about whether his actions could be punishable as revenge porn.
Jennifer Beidel, former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York and now practices at Dykema, breaks down the potential legal ramifications.
Beidel tells Us if Richards, 54, can prove Phypers, 52, stole or illegally accessed her cell phone and laptop, it could be a violation of the restraining order [Richards] in place [Phypers] and “also violate California statutes preventing unauthorized access to computer systems, data theft, and invasion of privacy.”
She adds, “Those statutory violations amount to felonies and could lead to several years’ imprisonment.”
However, Beidel explains, “But [Phypers] is claiming that Richards granted him access to those devices during the course of their relationship, which will make theft and unauthorized access far more difficult to prove. Federal cybersecurity statutes could technically be implicated by this conduct, but it is unlikely that this case will move out of the state system because there don’t appear to be factors implicating federal interests.”
The attorney tells Us, “California has a ‘revenge porn’ statute that makes it a crime to post sexually explicit photos or videos without consent when doing so causes serious emotional distress.”
Beidel says a conviction is punishable up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
She tells Us, “Even if the estranged spouse took the photos, disseminating them beyond what the subject consented to could violate the statute.”
In court documents filed on July 28 and obtained by Us, Richards claimed Phypers had violated the temporary restraining order she obtained by disseminating information and photos, including nude images of her, to the press amid their bitter divorce battle.
She claimed Phypers stole her laptop where he gained access to her texts and photos. Richards claimed on July 25 her ex gave an interview with The Daily Mail. The actress said the article contained “several pictures from my private text messages that were [stolen] by Aaron from my laptop.”
“One of the pictures Aaron took off my laptop contains a picture of me with my breast completely exposed and another picture of my buttocks. Another picture in the article is a picture of my phone being held by Aaron’s hand with my private text messages,” she said.
Her lawyer noted, “[Phypers] accessing my private information on my laptop and disseminating the information is not only abuse and a violation of the TRO but the disseminating of nude photographs is a criminal act.” The attorney cited the penal code for revenge porn.
For his part, Phypers denied he stole Richards’ laptop or cell phones. He told Us on Tuesday, “In reality, Denise took my phone without consent, physically assaulted me when I tried to retrieve it, and later I discovered it smashed and hidden in a black trash bag inside the recycling bin. That phone was my personal property, and it contained years of private memories, messages, and evidence of our life together.”
He told Us the photos Richards referred to were taken on his devices.
Phypers said, “Let me be very clear: all photos, videos, and communications she is referring to originated from my phone — which I lawfully own. Nothing was stolen or hacked. We were a married couple who shared everything — phones, iPads, laptops. Denise often insisted on transparency between us and even asked me, in both verbal and written messages, to check her phone to rebuild trust after I discovered her affair in early April.”
