A woman accused last summer of throwing a benefit fashion show and silent auction in La Jolla and then skipping out with goods before paying the charity recently held a similar event in San Diego. Vanessa Sweatte of Sweatte Productions allegedly bilked La Jollans, local merchants, fashion designers and a New York children’s charity called Kids in Distressed Situations (KIDS) of funds and goods in July 2008 after producing Fashionably Lounging at Prospect Bar & Lounge, with merchandise provided through La Jolla merchants. Sweatte allegedly left with some gifts and one-of-a-kind clothing, the show’s designers said. And KIDS representatives said they never received a cent. Now, representatives from the Lupus Foundation — the charity Sweatte said was beneficiary of a Feb. 21 event at Catamaran Resort Hotel called Fashion by the Bay — say they are waiting for Sweatte to return their calls. “There was a signed agreement between our office in California and Miss Sweatte,” said the Lupus Foundation’s Maggie Maloney. Maloney said she contacted representatives from San Diego’s Catamaran Resort Hotel regarding the charity event. Amber Kelly, catering manager for the Catamaran Resort Hotel, coordinated Fashion by the Bay. “[Sweatte’s] numbers were lower than she expected. She had families and friends who had donated gift baskets toward the silent auction and there were nontangible things she was trying to auction,” Kelly said. “There was no music for the event, so finally the designers pulled out of the show because it was taking too long to get started.” According to Kelly, once the designers left the Catamaran, Sweatte asked a model to announce that the fashion show was cancelled. “One of the models made an announcement… when people asked why, she blamed it on no sound,” Kelly said. Maloney said representatives from the Lupus Foundation, based in New York, are investigating the curtailed benefit. “It does appear the event ended abruptly,” Maloney said. “Because of this, we decided to reach out to Vanessa and asked her to do three things: Cease and desist in using our logo; provide us a report on the outcome of the event; and the third was to turn in any proceeds she may have received from the event.” But Maloney said Sweatte has not returned the Lupus Foundation’s calls or e-mails. “No, we have not heard from her. We are hoping that she will reach out to us and it will turn out to be positive,” Maloney said. “There’s a certain amount of trust and faith you put in people when doing these fund-raising events.” Sweatte did not return calls from the Village News. Statewide Seating owner Amanda Daniels donated a catwalk to Sweatte for Fashion by the Bay. Daniels said her sister provided clothing for the fashion portion. Sweatte promised each company placement inside Fashion by the Bay’s print program, which she never printed, according to Kelly. “In the beginning, she says she is going to create a program to give to people and she’s going to hand it to people at the door,” Kelly said. “But she didn’t because she said she didn’t get enough sponsorship.” According to Daniels, Sweatte also promised the designers a DVD of the show. “There was supposed to be a program with all the designers’ info and a CD at the end of the show or sometime after it was over,” Daniels said. “Every designer was supposed to get a professional CD with models wearing their stuff.” Kelly and Daniels said they began to worry about one week before the event. Daniels, who owns the Statewide Seating staging company with her family, said she contacted Sweatte regarding the event and thought her sister would benefit by showcasing her designs, she said. “I had a very bad feeling… I’ve been dealing with special events a long time — normally they don’t contact you a few days before,” Daniels said. “This is not like any special event I’ve ever worked on. If you’re coordinating the event, you have your thumb on everything.” Daniels said she continued to provide staging for the show. “I didn’t want to do the project, but everyone here thought we should do it, so we said we’d do it,” Daniels said. After a string of mishaps, Daniels said she didn’t feel right leaving her sister’s silk clothing unattended, so she decided to pull the clothing from the show. “Someone else in the family brought the dresses, and I said, ‘If you’re not comfortable leaving them there, then it’s better not to,’” Daniels said. According to Kelly, the Catamaran donated the hotel’s ballroom and seating for the benefit. “The week prior, up until that point, there was nothing she was doing wrong since nobody was paying for the event,” Kelly said. Then, Kelly said she was told about Sweatte’s past event history and confronted Sweatte during the dress rehearsal. “The story written about her got forwarded to me,” Kelly said. “We had a sitting a week prior, so I asked her who her contact was at the Lupus Foundation and that she should contact them to make sure they were on board.” Sweatte didn’t seem to “waver at all and we went on with the fitting,” Kelly said. Kelly said Sweatte was disorganized and showed up late to rehearsals but didn’t falter until the event. “There was no run-through with sound or I would have known there was no sound. It’s not uncommon for fashion shows to run late, but she was pushing everything back, and that’s what got the designers upset,” Kelly said. “Then she had a quick silent auction and took a five-minute break. One of the designers pulled out and the rest went with her.” According to Kelly, after a model announced there wouldn’t be a fashion show, “The girl working registration handed everybody their money back.” How much money did Sweatte raise for the Lupus Foundation? According to Maloney, Sweatte signed a contract promising she would hand over 100 percent of the event’s proceeds to the organization. “She shouldn’t be making any money off this,” Maloney said. “If she were able to provide an accounting of her expenses she incurred, such as gas, then she could deduct that.” According to Sweatte’s electronic invitation, she asked businesses to donate from $25 to $500 in advance. In return, donors would receive their business logo inside the event’s program. Sweatte charged $25 at the door but she allegedly never printed or dispersed programs. Kelly said about 100 people attended Fashion by the Bay, including the silent auction. But February’s event wasn’t the first time Sweatte threw a charity bash and then allegedly disappeared. In addition to the July 19, 2008 La Jolla fashion show and silent auction Sweatte held at Prospect Bar & Lounge for KIDS, Sweatte hosted a benefit at the FleetWood nightclub in downtown San Diego in January 2008, said Fleetwood owner Aaron Phillips. Sweatte claimed the Fleetwood event would benefit Children’s Hospital, Phillips said. “We still have a check she forged for all the models. It was supposed to be for a charity, but the charity didn’t know about it,” Phillips said in a previous interview. Meanwhile, Maloney said the Lupus Foundation will investigate Sweatte’s event. “We may or may not decide to reach out to these other groups [affected by Fashion by the Bay],” Maloney said. “I think at this point, we haven’t made a decision on [legal action]. We need to wait and see what happens. “Nonprofits count on these events for fund-raising. It’s a shame that events like these can tarnish good works that so many people are doing.”