PINELLAS COUNTY, FL—Riley Reynolds, founder and owner of talent agency Hussie Models LLC, has been sued by one of his former models, Lenna Lux, charging that Reynolds, whose base of operations is in Florida, has not been licensed as a talent agent in that state and is therefore unable legally to collect fees from his models—but according to Reynolds, the whole lawsuit is baseless.
Reynolds was the agent featured in the scandalous anti-adult feature Hot Girls Wanted, created by former Miami Herald reporter Jill Bauer and her photographer partner Ronna Gradus. The movie debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in early 2015, and since then, the controversy hasn't stopped, with several adult performers weighing in on how the film treats its main subjects—a controversy that only got more intense when the limited series Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On debuted on Netflix in the Spring of 2017.
Lux's suit isn't available online, but according to news reports, the actress, who apparently hails from Colorado, has produced two invoices from Hussie Models detailing fees charged for representing Lux in obtaining adult content work—fees which Lux claims that Reynolds had no right to take because he has not been licensed as a talent agent in Florida. Reynolds denies that he has ever taken a commission from Lux in Florida.
According to Lux's Internet Adult Film Database page, she's been in a total of 13 web scenes and one DVD since joining the industry earlier this year, and it appears that the majority of her work has taken place in southern California. Reynolds told AVN, "Hussie Models is licensed and bonded in the State of California and we do not take commission in the state of FL, and we have not taken any commissions at all from Lenna."
According to an article on The Daily Beast website, Lux joined Hussie Models in Florida, where Reynolds resides, even as Reynolds was appealing the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation's denial of his talent agency license application, but Reynolds told AVN that an appeal of that ruling is currently underway. According to her complaint, Lux tried to leave Hussie while that appeal was in progress, and said that Reynolds refused to release her from her contract—a statement that Reynolds vehemently denies.
"She's working for another agency now, and I've never gotten her any jobs that I expected any commissions from," he stated. "And I know she's claiming that I told her I'd pay her airfare, but it says quite clearly on our web page that we expect to be reimbursed for plane tickets and such, and she paid us back for that already. I paid for her tests; she paid that back. I paid for her flight; she paid that back. I paid for a couple of Ubers of hers; she paid that back, but the total invoice only came out to a little less than $900."
Lux did try to join another agency, 101 Models, while she was still represented by Hussie, and Reynolds said he contacted them and had them remove Lux from their roster, and demanded that they turn over any money she had earned to Hussie. Lux then went to LA Direct Models, and Reynolds said he worked out an arrangement with that agency for Lux to leave Hussie and join LA Direct's roster—but that one of the invoices for which Lux is looking for reimbursement from Hussie is actually an LA Direct invoice. In all, Lux claims that Reynolds is looking for $3,525.11 in alleged debts and fees from her, some of it for rental fees supposedly accrued by Lux for residing at Reynolds' model house, but Reynolds told AVN that he has forgiven any debts Lux may still owe Hussie.
According to the legal website FlaRecord.com, "The plaintiff [Lux] alleges [Reynolds] and Hussie Models utilized coercion to gain, secure, or ensure [Lux's] cooperation or acquiescence to continue exploitation and collected proceeds directly from a pattern of criminal activity."
According to Reynolds, that's utterly untrue.
"She went to another agent, then another agent, and she has now screwed that agent and continues to shoot, so this is something she really wanted to do," Reynolds told AVN. "I've never coerced anybody into doing anything they didn't want to do, and I want to make that very clear."
