The anonymous author of the notorious Hollywood gossip blog Crazy Days and Nights inadvertently revealed his identity to a Florida court last year in the fallout of a messy extramarital affair that wouldn’t be out of place in one of his website’s famed “blind items.”
Crazy Days and Nights (often abbreviated as CDaN) is infamous for publishing sensational and inflammatory claims about unnamed celebrities with little regard for accuracy. In fact, the blog admits in a disclaimer that some material might be “products of the author’s imagination” and last year settled a defamation lawsuit with Diana Jenkins of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
But some items have their footing in reality. CDaN’s lead blogger, who uses the pseudonym “Enty Lawyer,” has been credited with beating major publications to the punch on several major stories—including Harvey Weinstein’s predations—and developed a certain mystique among the mainstream media, QAnon-style conspiracy theorists, and ordinary celeb-watchers.
Though a handful of profiles about Enty Lawyer have been published, they were written under agreements to keep his identity secret. But The Daily Beast has confirmed that the dirt-slinger behind Crazy Days and Nights is licensed California attorney John Robert Nelson, who in 2018 ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a progressive Democrat. It’s unclear whether he currently practices law or ever practiced entertainment law as his moniker suggests.
Nelson’s secret life came to light because of an affair he had with a Florida woman that has spawned dueling legal complaints and accusations of abusive behavior.
Last year, he sought a restraining order against the woman, Cassandra Crose, and included information in his filings to a Florida court that match up with the woman’s claims on social media that he is the author of CDaN.
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida on Nov. 8, 2023, Nelson and his wife Victoria said that he engaged in an “intimate relationship” with part-time podcaster Cassandra Crose and that the relationship turned sour after Crose learned Nelson had entered the relationship under false pretenses.
Nelson, in the complaint, alleged that Crose falsely claimed she was pregnant, falsely accused him of molesting her daughter, and barraged him with “explosive, violent and threatening” calls and texts—up to hundreds per day.
He said she threatened to reveal Nelson’s online persona to the public and that he paid her at least $1,500 per month or more in hush money and stayed with Crose “to keep her from exposing me” and because he was worried about the safety of his family.
Despite the payments, Crose’s anger, threats and repeated references to his children drove the couple to seek a restraining order, the filing says. When Crose learned of the couple’s intention to go to court, the complaint says, she unmasked Nelson on social media and in podcast episodes.
In his legal filing, Nelson did not outright state that he runs CDaN, which launched as a blog in 2006 and later added a podcast. But he wrote: “For much of the past seventeen years, I have supplemented and then started making the vast majority of my income through an online blog and then in 2018 a podcast. Throughout the entirety of this period, my identity has stayed anonymous.”
The complaint also mentions specific social media posts and podcast episodes published by Crose that disclosed his identity, and the details of those line up with instances in which Crose claimed he was the author of CDaN.
The court found that his request for an injunction against Crose failed to allege facts sufficient to support a claim and that the complaint failed to comply with federal court procedures.
In his dismissal, the judge recommended that the Nelsons “obtain legal advice and assistance or representation by a lawyer.” The initial case was closed on Dec. 5, and Nelson filed a new case against Crose in Pinellas County court, which is pending.
Crose denied that she threatened Nelson or shook him down for money, and she suggested many of the text messages he cited in his filing were not from her. Nelson did not return requests for comment sent by phone, email, and text. An attorney representing him did not respond to requests for comment.
John Robert Nelson and Cassandra Crose
Courtesy Cassandra Crose
Crose’s relationship with Nelson became fodder for a podcast she co-hosted with her friend Tiffany Busby. On episodes of “Drenched in Drama,” Crose and Busby retrace what they allege was a web of lies that Nelson concocted.
“I was more scared of what would happen if I didn’t speak out about it or what he would keep doing,” Crose told The Daily Beast.
In her podcast’s debut episode, Crose said that in 2022, she purchased the opportunity to record an episode with Nelson from his Patreon account, which sells one-time co-hosting opportunities for $250, for her other podcast “Cassandra Explains It All.” Crose told The Daily Beast that Nelson continued to contact and record podcast episodes with her, and a romantic relationship ensued. He told her he was single and that he lived alone, she said.
According to her recounting on her podcast, Nelson planned a trip to visit her in Florida for his birthday, during which they “fell in love.” The couple purportedly made plans to move in together.
She said on the podcast that Nelson’s wife contacted her with concerns that he was cheating and that Nelson claimed his wife was an alcoholic and that he planned to separate from her. At one point, she claimed, Nelson lied that he was going to a sports bar and then flew to his family in California. In the court filing, Nelson also mentioned this moment, but claimed that he was “forced to lie to escape” from Crose.
Crose told her listeners that Nelson proclaimed he loved her up until the day he had her served with a legal notice. She also alleged that he once sent her what she believes were doctored or fraudulent court records to convince her he had sought a divorce from his wife.
As her podcast series went on, Crose detailed claims that Nelson abused her—allegations that also appeared in a Feb. 5 filing in state court that she provided to The Daily Beast and read aloud in a recent episode of “Drenched in Drama.”
In the court complaint, Crose alleged Nelson was violent on several occasions—choking, slapping, and hitting her without consent. She also alleged that Nelson told her on Jan. 11, 2023, that he had “killed women before,” and that he was “smart enough” to get away with killing her.
The complaint also alleged that after Crose was served with legal papers, Nelson’s wife Victoria changed her Twitter profile background to a picture that Crose had sent John Nelson of a storm outside her bedroom window. It also claimed that Nelson continued to solicit sexual material from Crose after he filed for the restraining order last October.
“You belong to me and only to me and I will use you as I wish,” Nelson texted Crose on Nov. 2, 2022, according to the complaint.
Since outing Nelson, Crose has shared several audio recordings she says Nelson sent her during their relationship. The voice in the clips sounds the same as the voice of Enty Lawyer on CDaN’s podcast on Patreon, and Crose shared several vide clips of Nelson speaking on camera, in which Nelson can be clearly seen and heard. Crose told The Daily Beast that she would frequently communicate with Nelson on Zoom, sitting in on his CDaN podcast recordings, watching television shows together, and seeing him masturbate.
In an audio recording Crose shared with The Daily Beast, Nelson is heard sexually fantasizing about physically abusing her for eating unhealthy foods, and about striking her with a belt.
Crose told The Daily Beast that the audio clip was reflective of Nelson’s “interests” in sex, and that he would harm her during intimacy and become angered at her if she cried or expressed her discomfort.
“He knew I did not want that. He did it anyways,” Crose told The Daily Beast. “I didn’t think that a lot of it was going to translate into real life, but he was way more violent than I thought.”
Nelson was obsessive about her weight and asked her to regularly send him photos of herself on a scale, she said, even though he was aware of her history with eating disorders and domestic violence. She said she lost approximately 35 pounds when they were romantically involved.
On her podcast, Crose has described her relationship with Nelson as emotionally abusive and alleged that his harassment against her is “ongoing” via the legal system.
“I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with him and I thought that he loved my children,” Crose told Busby in their first episode. “Now, it’s scary to me what people are capable of.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/rss
The Daily Beast
