Promoter: Singer innocent of Braxton scam
A concert promoter has testified that he alone tried to foist off a Las Vegas-based entertainer as six-time Grammy winner Toni Braxton at a show that has since been dubbed the "Phony Toni" concert.
Angel Ventura, 45, told a judge Tuesday that Braxton impersonator Trina Johnson-Finn was an unwitting participant of his scheme that tricked people in this tiny South American country into paying up to $53 a ticket for the Feb. 28 concert in Suriname's capital.
Disappointed fans had hoped to see Braxton, who is best known for the hit "Un-break My Heart" and appearances on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."
"I never said to the prosecutor that Trina Johnson knew beforehand that she was part of a scam," he told Judge Robby Rodriguez on the first day of Johnson-Finn's trial on charges of defrauding fans.
But prosecutors contend Johnson-Finn, who has augmented her 20-year singing career by impersonating various stars as a "tribute artist," attempted to pass herself off as the real Braxton, and that Ventura's testimony does not clear her of involvement in the scam.
The concert was a debacle: Numerous people in the crowd of 3,000 began to jeer and pelt the stage with trash when the singer hit a sour note at the beginning of the second song. She was rushed off the stage to a loud chorus of boos.
Johnson-Finn, clad in a black blouse and skirt, sat calmly during Ventura's testimony.
Her Surinamese lawyer, Kathleen Brandon, told the judge the 41-year-old Nevada woman has been unjustly jailed for nearly three months awaiting her trial and called for her immediate release.
"Ventura told her to go all out as an impersonator and play a role in the whole thing. She thought that everyone knew that she was just an impersonator, but Ventura did not tell anyone in Suriname," Brandon said.
But the judge declined to release Johnson-Finn and adjourned the trial until June 2.
Supporters in Las Vegas have come to Johnson-Finn's defense, waging an Internet campaign on her behalf.