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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
Hollywood makeup maven Paula Dorf says she is a victim of identity theft by a New Jersey distributor she alleges is using her name and tarnishing her reputation by selling bargain-basement makeup made in China.
Since the early 1980’s, Ms. Dorf had been the makeup artist to stars such as Katie Holmes, Stevie Nicks and Barbara Streisand, before launching her own line of cosmetics in 1995.
Known in the industry for her “Transformers” products, a clear liquid placed over eye shadow or lipstick to maintain color, Ms. Dorf’s beauty products have been used on countless movie sets.
After Ms. Dorf’s company, Paula Dorf Cosmetics L.L.C., went bankrupt in 2009, Jack Sandbach, who purchased a 51% stake in the fading company, began selling the Paula Dorf makeup line that formerly was available exclusively at high-end department stores. However, Mr. Sandbach sold the cosmetics at discount retailers, fired Ms. Dorf and moved manufacturing to China.
“People think I’m still producing the product and are angry with me,” Ms. Dorf said in news reports.
After getting unsatisfactory responses to three case-and-desist letters sent to Mr. Sandbach demanding that he remove her image and life story from the company’s website and resume manufacturing the cosmetics in the United States, Ms. Dorf reportedly is preparing to sue him.
Mr. Sandbach reportedly maintains that Ms. Dorf has no right to dictate how makeup products are manufactured since she no longer controls the company that still bears her name.