TULSA, Okla. — It was “Pretty Woman” without the Hollywood ending.
A Manhattan real-estate developer tried to save a wayward escort — à la Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in the popular 1990 film — by giving her more than $100,000 to start a new life.
Instead, he got conned, as she took the money but went back to her old tricks, he claims in a suit filed last week in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Robert Brot, 57, says he met Lindsey DeLeon, 26, on a dating Web site in October 2008, fell in love and wanted to marry her.
He knew she had two kids, was deep in debt and had turned to stripping and escort work to make ends meet, the lawsuit says.
But the divorced father of two — who runs the multimillion-dollar development firm the J Companies with his brother — wanted to help her.
“He’s got a really big heart, and he intended to help rescue her,” said his lawyer, Andrew Miltenberg. “He fell in love with a woman, and he thought he was helping her turn her life around.”
But unlike those of the call girl with a heart of gold played by Roberts, DeLeon’s intentions were driven by greed alone, the suit charges.
“She had other ideas for him and his money,” Miltenberg said.
Brot helped her move here from Wyoming so they could live together. He also agreed to pay for her to go to school so she could build a career in real estate.
The understanding was that she’d repay him once she was earning money on her own, the suit says.
“She’s ridiculously sweet,” said a source who knows her. “That’s how she gets her way.”
At first, DeLeon did what she knew best — landing a job as a stripper and doing escort work on the side to pay off her debt to him, Brot said.
Then, in February 2009, she told him that she had to return home to Oklahoma to deal with a family issue and sort out a custody battle over her two kids, the suit says.
Brot agreed to pay for her to move back and even for an apartment there.
In March of last year, DeLeon got a job in Tulsa — as a stripper, according to the suit.
A concerned Brot told her that if she married him, he would waive the debt. She replied that she would think about it and agreed in the meantime not to go back into the escort trade, the suit alleges.
But by July, she was selling herself again, he learned.
This time, he turned his back on her, the suit says.
In an online erotic-services ad at Cityvibe.com featuring pictures of DeLeon, the description reads: “Sweet Southern Redhead with Natural DDD’s.”
“I am a young, vivacious, sweet redhead with a VERY naughty side,” the ad reads.
In all, Brot says, he forked over $118,061 to DeLeon during their brief affair — $105,380 of which she still owes him.
He is suing for the return of the outstanding loan plus interest and legal fees.
DeLeon, reached last night by The Post, would only say, “I was not aware of the lawsuit. I can’t comment before talking to my attorney.”
She declined to say if she had ever worked as an escort.
What is known is that she pleaded guilty in 2007 in Oklahoma to writing bogus checks and was ordered to pay $4,500 in restitution.
Still, a Tulsa relative defended DeLeon and called Brot a bitter, “jilted” lover.
“There’s so much more to this story,” the relative said. “He’s really angry. I think he’s jilted and trying to hurt her as much as he got hurt.”
Miltenberg countered that Brot only had the best intentions.
“For Robert, it was a real relationship,” the lawyer said. “The guy got his heart broken. He really got taken in.”
Additional reporting by Lukas I. Alpert