A federal lawsuit filed in New Hampshire by a dozen professional models, including former “Baywatch” star Carmen Electra, accuses a Bedford gentleman’s club of using their photographs on social media without permission, defaming them, and falsely associating them with the adult entertainment venue. As the Boston Globe reported, the lawsuit was filed Friday, May 15, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire and targets the Millennium Cabaret in Bedford, NH, an establishment that has operated at the same address for more than a decade and was previously known as The Gold Club.

The complaint is part of a broader, multi-state legal campaign that Electra and other models have waged for years against adult clubs that allegedly lift their professional headshots and modeling photos and repurpose them as promotional material on Facebook and other social platforms. The Bedford filing brings that fight into New Hampshire’s federal courts and onto Granite State business news, with potential implications that go well beyond a single strip club’s social media history.

The Allegations Against The Millennium Cabaret

According to the complaint, the Bedford club used the plaintiffs’ images on Facebook posts dating back to 2011, when the business operated under the name The Gold Club, to promote the venue and upcoming events. The Boston Globe reported that some of those posts remained accessible on the club’s profile on the day the lawsuit was filed, more than a decade after they first went up. That continuing accessibility is part of what the plaintiffs say constitutes an ongoing violation rather than a one-time mistake long buried.

The legal theory is straightforward in its outlines. The plaintiffs say that as professional models, they make their living by deciding which brands they associate their image with, and on what terms. The lawsuit alleges that the Bedford club used their photos without permission or compensation in a way that created an impression they had “worked at, endorsed, or were otherwise associated” with the strip club. The complaint frames that as defamation and false association in violation of state common law as well as the federal Lanham Act, which is the long-standing federal statute that covers trademark infringement and false advertising. The lawsuit seeks a jury trial to determine actual and punitive damages.

Who The Plaintiffs Are

The twelve plaintiffs span the worlds of glamour modeling, acting, and brand work, and several have public profiles well beyond modeling itself. They are Carmen Electra (legal name Tara Leigh Patrick), Cielo Jean “CJ” Gibson, Eva Pepaj, Irina Voronina, Jessica Hinton (also known as Jessa Hinton), Keeley Rebecca Hazell, Lina Posada, Marketa Lim (also known as Marketa Kazdova), Paula Cañas, Tiffany Riley (also known as Tiffany Selby), Ursula Mayes, and Tiffany Gray (also known as Tiffany Toth).

Electra is the best-known of the group nationally. In addition to her modeling and acting career, the complaint notes she is a recording artist who worked with Prince, an author, and an entrepreneur. Several of the other plaintiffs have appeared in mainstream advertising, on magazine covers, and in television projects, and a number have brought similar suits in other states. Their names recur in adult-club image-rights litigation across the country because the legal mechanism, once perfected, has been used as a template against dozens of similar venues.

Who The Defendants Are

The defendant identified in the complaint is East Coast Restaurant & Nightclubs LLC, the corporate entity that has been affiliated with the Bedford club for years under state business records, according to the Boston Globe. The club may have undergone a change in corporate structure in 2018, when a separate entity called Five Star Management LLC registered the trade name “Millennium Cabaret” at the same address. Both LLCs list Matthew Rose as principal.

In response to inquiries from the Globe, the corporate office for Rose’s businesses said in an unsigned email Friday that the lawsuit’s allegations “lack substance” and that the company had no further comment. As of the filing, the club had not filed an answer in federal court.

The Lawyers In The Case

The plaintiffs are represented by Joseph N. Casas, a California-based attorney who has built a specialty representing models in this type of right-of-publicity and false-association litigation against adult entertainment venues across the country. He is joined in New Hampshire by Kirsten J. Allen of Shaheen & Gordon, the long-established New Hampshire law firm that frequently appears in significant civil litigation in the state. Casas declined to comment to the Boston Globe.

The defendants had not entered an appearance through counsel at the time the suit was filed. That will change quickly once the formal answer is due in federal court.

The Federal Lanham Act Angle

The reason cases like this one tend to be filed in federal court rather than state court is the Lanham Act. The Lanham Act is the principal federal statute covering trademark protection in the United States, but it also includes a robust set of rules on “false designation of origin” and false advertising that have been used aggressively in recent decades to protect public personalities’ commercial identities. When a professional model’s image is used by a business in a way that suggests endorsement or association, courts have held in many cases that the use can constitute a form of trademark-style consumer confusion, even if the model is not selling a branded product.

That federal hook is paired in the Bedford lawsuit with state common law claims of defamation and false association. Those claims rest on the idea that placing the plaintiffs’ images in the marketing materials of a strip club, without permission, harms their reputations and their commercial value to the legitimate brands that hire them.

The Boston Globe noted that similar suits brought by Electra and others have been filed in Massachusetts seeking damages for the alleged unauthorized use of their images by other strip clubs, and that this campaign has been ongoing for years. The legal terrain is well-mapped at this point, which is part of what makes the Bedford filing more than a curiosity. The plaintiffs know what relief they tend to be able to win and what damage models tend to apply in these cases.

What It Means For New Hampshire Small Businesses

For New Hampshire residents who are not personally interested in the underlying industry, there is a real lesson buried in this lawsuit. Social media marketing for any business in 2026 carries real legal exposure when a business uses imagery it did not pay for, license, or create. The most common version of this risk for small businesses is the unauthorized use of stock or celebrity-style images pulled from web searches. Restaurants, bars, retailers, and event venues across the Granite State all have social feeds, and many have ten or more years of legacy posts. Material that was posted in 2011 is not safely buried. Plaintiffs and their lawyers know how to find it.

That is consistent with how courts and regulators have moved in this area over the last decade. Recent New Hampshire civil litigation has shown that legal accountability for past institutional behavior is not going away. New Hampshire Review has covered several other cases involving long-running legal accountability questions, including the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s review of police liability in the New Boston abuse case and Eversource’s transmission lawsuit with public advocates over the White Mountains. The Bedford case is smaller in scope but fits the same general theme: institutions can be held to account for choices documented in the digital record.

Where The Case Goes From Here

The Millennium Cabaret will need to file a formal answer to the complaint in federal court. The court will set a schedule for discovery, motions, and potentially a trial. Cases of this kind frequently settle before trial, with defendant clubs paying damages and agreeing to stop using the plaintiffs’ images. Some go to a jury verdict, particularly when the defense argues that the images were either licensed or were used in a way that does not actually imply endorsement. The Lanham Act claim and the state defamation claims each carry their own legal standards, and a single set of facts can win on one theory and lose on another.

What is unusual about Carmen Electra’s involvement in cases like this is the sheer durability of her public image. The complaint emphasizes her status as a recording artist, actor, author, and entrepreneur. That breadth is part of how courts have evaluated her image rights in past suits. The more clearly defined her commercial brand is, the more clearly the unauthorized use of her image in a different commercial setting can be argued to dilute or distort her brand.

The Bigger Picture On Image Rights

Image-rights lawsuits in 2026 sit at the intersection of three areas of law that did not used to overlap as much as they do now. First is right of publicity, the common-law and statutory protection most states give to a person’s name, likeness, and identity for commercial purposes. Second is trademark and false-advertising law, which the federal Lanham Act covers. Third is defamation, which is the traditional protection of personal and professional reputation from false statements of fact.

A lawsuit like the one filed against the Millennium Cabaret in Bedford weaves those three strands together. The plaintiffs say their right of publicity was violated when their photos were used without permission. They say federal false-advertising law was violated when those photos were used to suggest an endorsement that did not exist. And they say their reputations were harmed when the images appeared in marketing material for a strip club they have no affiliation with. Whether the Bedford club’s defenses hold up will shape whether other New Hampshire businesses pay closer attention to what is on their own social feeds, including posts that have been sitting there for years.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Millennium Cabaret and where is it located?

The Millennium Cabaret is an adult entertainment club in Bedford, New Hampshire. According to state business records cited by the Boston Globe, the club has been operated at the same address by entities affiliated with Matthew Rose for years, and was previously known as The Gold Club.

What law are the plaintiffs suing under?

The lawsuit is filed in federal court and cites alleged violations of the federal Lanham Act, which covers trademark and false-advertising claims, along with New Hampshire state common law claims of defamation and false association. The complaint seeks a jury trial and both actual and punitive damages.

Has Carmen Electra brought similar lawsuits before?

Yes. Electra and several of the other plaintiffs have filed similar suits in other states, including Massachusetts, against adult clubs that allegedly used their photographs without permission. This is the latest filing in a multi-year campaign focused on image-rights enforcement against strip clubs.

Is this lawsuit unique to New Hampshire?

No, the legal theory has been used in multiple states. The New Hampshire filing is distinctive only in that it targets a Bedford venue and uses Shaheen & Gordon as local counsel alongside the California-based attorney who specializes in this type of model-image litigation, Joseph N. Casas.

What can small businesses in New Hampshire learn from this case?

The lawsuit is a reminder that legacy social media posts are part of the record. Businesses that have used images they did not license or create, particularly imagery of identifiable people, may face exposure under federal Lanham Act and state common law claims, even years after the original post. A periodic audit of social feeds and image licenses is a sensible step.

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