A photographer who took topless shots of
Cameron Diaz when she was 19 and subsequently tried to persuade her to buy them back for $3.5 million once she found fame, has lost an appeal challenging his conviction.
Last year, John Rutter was convicted of forgery, attempted grand theft and perjury relating to the offending photos, and he is currently serving up to a four-year sentence.
Rutter appealed for the conviction to be thrown out based on errors in his trial, but Monday a three-justice panel from the 2nd District Court of Appeal failed to agree with his argument.
Rutter photographed Diaz in 1992 posing raunchily in leather boots and fishnet stockings when she was a struggling model. The topless photos have never been published, Rutter has been banned from releasing either them or a video of the shoot.
The snapper testified during his two-week trial he gave the beauty two days to pay him for the photos before he offered them up to prospective buyers in 2003, but he insists he was not trying to blackmail the star, and maintains he was merely offering her first right of refusal.