Eric Swalwell's Beverly Hills Supporter Questions If He Overlooked "a Well-Known DC Secret" | Vanity Fair

Two days before Eric Swalwell ended his campaign for California governor amid a string of sexual assault and misconduct allegations, the now former congressman recorded a video at Stephen Cloobeck’s Beverly Hills mansion—reportedly worth $26 million—where he had stayed numerous times during the race.

“A lot has been said about me today through anonymous allegations, and I thought it was important that you see and hear from me directly,” Swalwell said, staring into the camera. “These allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They’re absolutely false.” On Tuesday, he resigned from Congress.

Cloobeck is an offbeat, self-described billionaire who made his fortune in timeshare real estate—though some estimates place his net worth in the mere many millions. He had been making his own bid for governor before dropping out in November and throwing $1 million behind Swalwell. In an interview with Vanity Fair on Monday, he insisted that the allegations that ended Swalwell’s campaign came as a surprise.

“If this was such a big known secret in DC,” Cloobeck tells me, referring to a consensus about Swalwell’s alleged history of misconduct that has formed in the political-journalism corners of social media in recent days, “then how many others are there on the Hill?”

The 64-year-old tycoon is himself no stranger to the rumor mill. Just prior to the implosion of Swalwell’s political career, Cloobeck had experienced his latest tabloid scandal when his 28-year-old fiancée, an Israeli OnlyFans model and former Penthouse Pet named Adva Lavie, was arraigned on six charges after being accused of committing burglary at the homes of wealthy older men and younger women whom she met through dating apps. (The New York Post later reported that she had previously been married to a porn star known as Big Nick, who was convicted of vehicular manslaughter in 2023 after crashing his Honda into a motorcyclist.) According to prosecutors’ depiction of the honey trap, Lavie, also known as Mia Ventura, posed as a romantic partner or travel companion before stealing cash, gold, and high-end designer goods. She is currently out on bail with an ankle monitor and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Swalwell had been a leading candidate in the race to succeed Gavin Newsom, and his swift fall put a spotlight on his Hollywood and Democratic backers, ranging from Sean Penn and Robert De Niro to Arizona senator Ruben Gallego, whom Swalwell had previously described as his “best friend.” The ex-congressman had risen to prominence as a vocal critic of Donald Trump, serving as an impeachment manager at the end of the president’s first term as well as on the January 6 judiciary subcommittee. The four women who came forward on Friday alleged a long pattern of misconduct ranging from sexual harassment to rape. Cloobeck says he has his share of questions regarding the due diligence process—before Cloobeck ended his candidacy and rallied behind Swalwell, the now former congressman “was vetted by my team and then allegedly vetted by his team.” More immediately, he questioned what to do about the man in his home whom he had come to think of as a “little brother.”

“I wanted to hear his side because I wanted to make sure his mental health was okay, because I’m a humanitarian,” Cloobeck says. “And I got to the point where I found he lacked integrity.” In Cloobeck’s account, Swalwell began apologizing to him two days after the allegations surfaced. Cloobeck says that once he had a fuller picture of the alleged misconduct, he told Swalwell, “Get the fuck out of here now.” He also decided that he would no longer be a Democrat. “I’m a liberal libertarian Republican,” Cloobeck says. (Vanity Fair has reached out to Swalwell for comment.)

Cloobeck refers to Harry Reid, the longtime Democratic Senate majority leader from Nevada who died in 2021, as his “adopted dad” and launched his scuttled candidacy at his home on election night in 2024 with Zac Efron and Casey Affleck in attendance. His career in Las Vegas real estate led to the creation of the global timeshare company Diamond Resorts International, which Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management purchased for $2.2 billion in 2016. He says there is nothing to the charges against Lavie, who was “fundamentally abused by men,” which he says was not adequately considered in coverage of her criminal saga. “I did my homework,” Cloobeck says, “because I was like, Okay, is this another girl who’s going to rip me off? The opposite.”

He’s referring to a lawsuit he filed against another OnlyFans model, then 26-year-old Stefanie Gurzanski, in 2021. Cloobeck sued for fraud, claiming that he only learned about her online work after she left him about six months into their relationship; she alleged that he had repeatedly threatened her and filed for a restraining order. (Cloobeck told this magazine at the time that Gurzanski was “not a top 10 blow job of mine.” Cloobeck’s suit was settled out of court, and Gurzanski dropped her restraining order.) There was no overlap between his political and OnlyFans troubles, he says, except for his own motivations: “I’m willing to fight the fight and make sure people get justice, social justice.”

Cloobeck is eager to tout his connections, telling Vanity Fair in 2021 that he had golfed with Barack Obama, who he said called him “regularly,” and Bill Clinton. He also said then that he often spoke with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi; that Pete Buttigieg, like Cory Booker, was a “dear friend”; and that he’d helped Alejandro Mayorkas navigate his Senate confirmation process to become secretary of homeland security. He even introduced Gurzanski to a then rising star in Democratic politics, a few years before Swalwell began recording videos at his home.

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