US News

Modeling agency battling former rep over poaching, slander

A top New York City modeling agency is suing its former booker, claiming he was two-timing the company by making false promises to get out of a contract while stealing glamour girls on the sly.

Women Management, which launched the careers of supermodels Kate Moss and Natasha Poly, claims former manager Ali Kavoussi convinced the company to let him out of an employment agreement so he could start his own firm.

The Soho-based agency agreed to the release because Kavoussi promised only to take five of his longtime catwalkers with him and pledged not to besmirch the firm, the suit says.

“Kavoussi’s representations were blatantly false,” agency attorney Brian Kaplan says in court papers.

The booker’s former employer caught him trying to poach Sports Illustrate Swimsuit stunner Sara Sampaio, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit.

He also allegedly lured fellow booker Joseph Schepers away from Women Management to his new company, The Lions, and “disparaged” his former employer to other models.

The alleged betrayal has cost the firm relationships with models, business contacts, employees, profits and confidential and propriety information, according to court papers.

The agency is seeking unspecified damages.

Kavoussi did not return messages.