MIDTOWN WEST — A hard-up Scores stripper seduced an obese alcoholic HBO executive and got him to leave her most of his life-savings after just a few months of knowing each other, new court papers charge.
Veronica Beckham, 31, is accused of using her talents as an X-rated entertainer to coerce Micky Liu into making her the beneficiary of his brokerage accounts, a retirement plan and a life insurance policy.
When Liu died at 50 in March, Beckham collected most of his cash. But Liu’s sister said that the stripper charmed the money out of her vulnerable brother, who had a severe heart condition and was on heavy medication.
“Beckham, as a professional exotic dancer, was adept at applying and using coercion and manipulation upon men,” Liu’s sister, May, wrote in a legal filing last month in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court.
“Immediately after Beckham met Micky Liu, she preyed upon Micky Liu’s vulnerability by exerting influence over him in the form of moral coercion and by performing sexual acts on and with Micky Liu.”
May Liu’s court filing demands that Beckham return the money from the accounts. The court documents do not say the total amount of money Beckham received.
Micky Liu, an IT director at HBO who lived in Midtown West, met Beckham at a Scores strip club in Atlantic City in July 2014. At the time, Beckham was living in an apartment in New Jersey on a month-to-month lease.
In a deposition connected to the court case, Beckham said during their first meeting, she and Liu just talked to each other for a half-hour at the club and later hung out at a casino with his friends.
Beckham said the two exchanged phone numbers and stayed in touch during the following month through texts and calls while she was in Florida visiting her sick mother.
At the end of August 2014, Beckham was in trouble with her rent at the New Jersey apartment, according to court records. Liu paid to fly her up from Florida to New York so she could collect her belongings and settle her affairs at her New Jersey apartment.
Beckham said in her deposition that she crashed at Liu’s apartment from the time she landed in New York to the beginning of October, when she moved to Miami.
While Liu’s sister claims her brother and Beckham had a sexual relationship, Beckham said they weren’t romantic.
Beckham said she never had sex with Liu, noting she slept in his bed while he stayed on his couch.
The two talked about being boyfriend and girlfriend, but they chose not to go in that direction, she said. Instead she described their relationship as an “everlasting friendship.”
During the 35 days they lived together, Beckham would make healthy juice cocktails for Liu, who suffered from diabetes, while he helped her terminate her lease on her New Jersey apartment and paid for dental work.
Meanwhile, Beckham worked two to three times a week as a dancer at a Scores club in Manhattan, but found it hard to get customers.
“Most of these girls in these clubs are hooked with hosts, and they get, you know, first privilege of certain clientele, whatever, so I found myself walking around the club and not having more than like conversations or be able to do a dance for somebody,” Beckham said in her deposition.
“So a lot of times I just wrapped it up and said, ‘You know, as soon as I’m done with my affairs that I don’t want to continue to work.’”
In late October 2014, after Beckham had returned to Florida, Micky Liu began making her the beneficiary on several of his financial accounts.
Liu visited Beckham in Florida in January 2015 and made her the beneficiary on two more of his accounts.
After he returned to New York, Liu sent her cheesecake and other gifts. But he had a hard time getting in touch with her, according to court documents.
He died in his apartment on March 17, 2015, from heart disease, obesity and chronic alcoholism, according to his death certificate.
Beckham said in her deposition that she didn’t learn of his death until April 27, when his friend contacted her.
She also said she didn’t know Liu had named her as a beneficiary on his accounts until three months after he died, when financial firms contacted her.
May Liu and her lawyer, Stephen Holihan, declined to comment.
Beckham, who legally changed her last name from Alvez, also declined to comment on the case, but said she adored Micky Liu.
“I have plenty of nice, great things to say about Micky, but I can’t at this time as the case is pending," she said. "Just know that Micky was an outstanding, amazing, intelligent person."
