Todd Dean of Nashville: Lawsuits, Bankruptcy, and Love Con Revenge

Todd Dean is a Nashville man accused by at least eight women of a long-running romance fraud scheme in which he cultivated relationships, sought loans for a mental health retreat he claimed to be building, and never paid the money back. His accusers have won civil judgments against him in Davidson County and on Long Island, he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in December 2023, and his case became the focus of the first episode of the Netflix docuseries Love Con Revenge in September 2025. No criminal charges have been filed.¹²

What He Is Accused of Doing

The women who came forward describe a consistent pattern. Dean would meet them through dating platforms or social connections and quickly saturate the relationship with selfies and short video clips shot from his downtown Nashville condo, presenting himself as a charming, successful entrepreneur. On LinkedIn he called himself a “proven visionary.” The steady stream of photos and videos is what earned him the “Selfie Scammer” label in local reporting.¹

Once a relationship took hold, the money requests began. Some were small: $25 for a poker game or dinner. Others ran into the thousands, framed as “survival mode,” “absolute necessary needs,” or operating expenses for his business. Victims described the technique as love bombing, in which rapid affection is used to build emotional dependency before financial requests arrive. Repayment promises came repeatedly; the money, according to his accusers, did not.¹

The Sanjara Wellness Pitch

At the center of the pitch was Nashville Sanjara Wellness, a mental health retreat Dean claimed he was building on a “picturesque campus in the hills of Kentucky.” He listed himself as its CEO and described it as a future “world-class mental health facility.”¹

The retreat never opened. Lawsuits alleged Dean had no employment and no steady income during the years he was soliciting loans as an entrepreneur. A former assistant provided bank statements showing that money sent for the wellness facility was moved into Dean’s personal checking account.² Dean later acknowledged in bankruptcy proceedings that funds he told women were for “Sanjara operating expenses” had gone to cover his personal living costs, including rent on a Nashville high-rise condo.³

The Women Who Sued and What the Courts Awarded

Dean’s accusers pursued civil remedies, and at least two obtained signed promissory notes in which he agreed to repay borrowed funds.¹ The publicly documented cases include:

Jill Schardein, a single mother who met Dean on Facebook Dating and says she loaned him roughly $25,000 tied to Sanjara Wellness after being convinced to invest her life savings. A court awarded her a judgment of $30,727.50, which Dean did not pay.³⁴
Karen Alpert of Long Island, New York, who obtained a 2018 judgment against Dean for more than $25,000. With nonpayment, that balance grew to $44,283.¹
An unnamed former partner who filed suit in Davidson County Chancery Court alleging she had loaned Dean $50,000 and was never repaid. Her lawsuit alleged that 25 or more other people were in a similar position.¹

Other women identified in reporting included Karla Lawson of Seattle, Donna McMillen of San Diego, and Missy Russell of Ketchum, Indiana. Russell told reporters she had contacted the FBI, suspecting Dean was running a Ponzi scheme. By the time production began on the Netflix series, at least eight women had accused Dean of fraud.¹²

The Bankruptcy and What He Admitted

In late December 2023, Dean filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. During a creditor’s Zoom call, he stated that he had no job and no income and that he had been living off loans from women and other creditors. That admission stood in sharp contrast to the affluent CEO image he had projected online.³

Bankruptcy records indicated Dean intended to sell the Kentucky land bought for the Sanjara project. Because the property had been purchased with a loan, sale proceeds would go first to that secured debt, leaving little for the other creditors. A bankruptcy trustee was described as hunting for money to repay them. Schardein and others opposed the bankruptcy, questioning whether it should let Dean discharge debts they say were obtained through fraud. Time reported that Dean ultimately sold the Sanjara property to pay off debts.³²

No Criminal Charges

Despite years of reporting and multiple civil filings, no criminal charges have been filed against Dean by the Nashville District Attorney or any other known prosecutor. The legal actions against him have all been civil, aimed at recovering unpaid loans.¹

The Netflix Series That Made the Case National

Dean’s case reached a national audience when Love Con Revenge premiered on Netflix on September 5, 2025. The series follows Cecilie Fjellhøy, known from The Tinder Swindler, and private investigator Brianne Joseph as they work with victims of romance fraud. Dean is the focus of the first episode, centered on Jill Schardein’s account, and WSMV4’s earlier investigative footage was incorporated into the show.⁴⁵

Joseph’s team interviewed former staff, vendors, and contractors, gathering dated invoices and emails that corroborated victim timelines and mapped similar scripts and payment patterns across accusers.²⁵

What Dean Says

Dean has maintained his innocence throughout the reporting and litigation. When WSMV reporters approached him, he told them to “check our facts.”⁵ He has not offered detailed public statements addressing the specific allegations. His LinkedIn profile now identifies him as CEO of Todd Dean & Co., described as a business advisory firm.⁴

1
WSMV. Women Across US Accuse Nashville Man of Being Selfie Scammer
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Time. Love Con Revenge True Story: Romance Scams
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WVLT. Accused Selfie Scammer Admits Living Off Loans From Women, Other Creditors
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Entertainment Weekly. Love Con Revenge Scammers: Where Are They Now
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WSMV. Nashville’s Accused Selfie Scammer Featured in No. 2 Most Watched Series on Netflix