A celebrity plastic surgeon known as the “Boob God” is taking reggaeton star Nicky Jam to court over an unpermitted video shoot at the physician’s Star Island estate.
In a lawsuit filed last week in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, Dr. Leonard Hochstein accuses Jam, real name Nick Rivera Caminero, of providing him with a fraudulent $20,000 check as a security deposit to use the doctor’s nine-bedroom waterfront mansion at 42 Star Island in Miami Beach for a video shoot. Hochstein is also suing Los Angeles-based production company Cinema Giants, alleging the company failed to obtain a permit from the city of Miami Beach.
Caminero’s manager, Juan Diego Medina, and Cinema Giants did not respond to requests for comment. In September, Caminero dropped $6 million for a unit at One Thousand Museum in downtown Miami, a few months after selling his Palm Island home for $5 million.
In a phone interview, Hochstein told The Real Deal he didn’t want to sue, but that Caminero and Cinema Giants left him no other choice. “I thought I was doing a favor for a friend when I allowed Nicky Jam to use my home on the condition they obtained the proper permits,” Hochstein said. “Inexplicably, the production company decided not to, resulting in significant fines and problems for any future filming at my house.
Caminero and Cinema Giants failed to “honor a promise” to pay all the fines and take care of the violations, Hochstein added.
Specifically, Miami Beach wouldn’t allow Hochstein and his wife Lisa Hochstein to tape episodes of a new series of Real Housewives of Miami, at their home, according to Lorne Berkeley, the Boob God’s attorney. Lisa Hochstein is one of the show’s returning main cast members.
“Now the damages go beyond the fines and the violation,” Berkeley said. “It’s collateral damage not being able to film the Real Housewives.”
Between paying the fines and appealing to the Miami Beach Code Compliance Department, the Hochsteins spent between $15,000 to $17,000, Berkeley said. The $20,000 check would have covered the expenses had it not bounced, he added. City records show the violation was issued on March 26 and the case was closed on May 11.
According to the lawsuit, Hochstein’s bank rejected the check because it was allegedly worthless, and he has been unable to redeposit the check because Caminero has not resolved the payment issue.
Berkeley said prior to filing the lawsuit, he and his client spoke to Cinema Giants and its attorney to have the company pay the fines and resolve the violation with the city. They also reached out to Caminero and his management team about the security deposit, Berkeley said.
“When dealing with somebody at the level of Nicky Jam and the level of Cinema Giants, you take them at their word,” Berkeley said. “This was all done with good faith and understanding.”
According to court records, Hochstein was recently sued by two female patients alleging medical malpractice as a result of allegedly botched cosmetic surgery procedures. He has denied the allegations, court motions show.
He and his wife bought their Star Island property in 2012 for $2 million. The couple spent the next two years fighting historic preservationists and the city of Miami Beach in court over their plans to demolish a 1925 home built by Miami architect Walter DeGarmo.
The Hochsteins prevailed, tore down the house and built a three-story, 18,033-square-foot modern mansion in its place.