WASHINGTON — A high-ranking counterterrorism official is insisting she “did nothing wrong” after her ex-boyfriend reportedly triggered a watchdog probe over accusations she used him as a “sugar daddy” and demanded he spend thousands to fund her lavish lifestyle.
The Daily Mail reported that in December, a divorced business executive identified only as Robert B. matched with 29-year-old Deputy Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for Counterterrorism Julia Varvaro on Hinge, beginning a months-long dalliance that ended with him filing an official complaint with DHS.
“This is just a mad ex-boyfriend putting crap together. And it’s just really weird,” Varvaro insisted to the outlet.
“If we made a story about every failed short relationship in DC, this town would implode. I thought it was a great relationship until we just didn’t work, and that was it.”
Varvaro, a Long Island native who holds three degrees from St. John’s University, is facing scrutiny from the department’s Office of Inspector General over whether her online romance endeavors posed a national security risk, according to the Mail.
Robert B., who appears to be decades older than Varvaro, told the outlet that he shelled out up to $40,000 on her — funding trips to destinations like Italy, San Diego, South Carolina, and Aruba during their three-month romantic entanglement.
Throughout their short-lived dalliance, Varvaro seemingly pleaded with her boyfriend for financial assistance. At one point, Robert B. recalled, he introduced her to his daughter, who dismissed her as a “Long Island gold digger” and asked her father, “What are you doing?”
The failed lovebirds reportedly had their first date at the DC outpost of Minetta Tavern, with Robert B. claiming he footed the $1,400 bill and got just a kiss in return.
“Everywhere we went, she’d always order the most expensive things on the menu, like the Wagyu premier cut of Japanese beef,” he vented.
When the pair spent the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend in Aruba, he said Varvaro turned her nose up at the oceanside accommodations, but not before proposing hitting up the hotel’s Cartier jewelry store for a “souvenir.”
“She was like: ‘This is nice, but it’s not the Ritz,’” Robert B. told the Mail of her assessment, adding that he ultimately caved and switched to the luxury hotel, setting him back an additional $1,700 per night.
In February, the couple went to Italy and Switzerland, with Robert B. reportedly shelling out to buy Varvaro a new coat, ski gear, a $1,000 camera and a $3,500 Bottega handbag during a side trip to Milan.
After the two returned to DC, she pressured him to send $2,000 to cover half her rent during the ongoing shutdown of DHS.
“I’m not used to having to ask like this for a simple card or help with my rent especially being furloughed,” she texted him, per the Daily Mail. “Any past relationship would’ve jumped up and cared for me, which is what I like.”
The Daily Mail published screenshots of Robert B. sending Varvaro the money via Apple Cash.
“By that point, she was asking me for a credit card in her name so she could just shop and not ask for permission,” he recounted. “I was like: ‘You know that’s not happening because I see how you like to shop.”
“That got me the cold shoulder.”
In late March, Varvaro texted Robert B. a picture of herself with a pair of $1,000 sandals, and then allegedly grew angry that he didn’t immediately Venmo her the money. She also prodded him for a $2,000 Emsculpt cellulite remover, complaining that her “arms are fat.”
“I like feeling provided for and you’re not doing that for me, so not sure it will work,” Varvaro messaged him earlier this month, per the Mail.
Varvaro has insisted that she didn’t do anything “crazy” and that it’s normal for women to expect access to their partner’s credit card.
“I did not want a sugar daddy/prostitution relationship, after spending $30,000-$40,000 for vacations, Cartier jewelry, expensive handbags, and various shopping trips,” Robert B. wrote in his complaint to the DHS OIG, per the outlet.
“She also told me directly that the $40,000 worth of jewelry on her wrists and ears are all trophies from her sugar daddies,” his complaint continued. “I believe that she’s under financial stress and that her actions pose a security risk.”
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the DHS OIG told The Post it “has a longstanding policy neither to confirm nor to deny the existence of any specific investigation.”
“Therefore, we are unable to provide details concerning it and offer no comment on the matter.”
Reps for DHS did not respond to a request for comment. Attempts by The Post to contact Varvaro and Robert B. were unsuccessful.
