When we last heard about Representative Alan Grayson’s messy divorce, the Florida Democrat was disseminating a cell phone video of a fight he had with his estranged wife, Lolita Grayson, to disprove her claim that he had shoved her during their argument. (The Orange County Sheriff’s Office ultimately declined to arrest him over the accusation.) Now Alan is trying to get the marriage annulled on the grounds that Lolita is a bigamist.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the congressman’s lawyer, Richard West, says that Lolita told Alan she had been divorced since 1981 when the couple met in 1985. However:
“Unbeknownst to Mr. Grayson,” the filing adds, “Ms. Grayson was married and remained married to another man… up to and after the parties conducted an apparent marriage ceremony on April 28, 1990.”
Several years later, Lolita Grayson “secretly participated” in a divorce from her prior husband, a man named Robert Carson, in Broward County, the documents state.
Attached to the congressman’s counter-petition was a final divorce judgment out of Broward County dated March 7, 1994. It lists Lolita Carson as the respondent, and Robert Carson as the petitioner.
Because the alleged bigamy would render the Grayson marriage invalid, Alan, who has a net worth of about $16.7 million, is demanding that Lolita “make an accounting of all of the money and property she has received” and establish a trust, “providing for their return to Mr. Grayson.” He’s also accusing her of defamation, libel, and slander related to the domestic violence charge.
Lolita’s lawyer, Mercedes Wechsler, said on Tuesday that she wouldn’t comment on the situation “at this time.” Meanwhile, Alan answered a reporter’s question about it by saying, “Gotta talk to the attorneys.” Stay tuned for more middle-aged drama out of central Florida, where every story is weird.
