MSNBC anchor sued: Alex Witt owes $65,000, says friend

(CBS) NEW YORK - MSNBC weekend morning anchor, Alex Witt, is reportedly being sued by her former friend for failing to pay off a $65,000 loan.

Witt, who signed a $200,000 contract with MSNBC in the fall, was going through financial troubles back in December 2009 when she sought help from friend Stephanie Jones, according to The New York Post.

Jones, 49, a thriving New York City lawyer, allegedly wrote Witt a check for $65,000 at 7.5 percent interest, but when it came time for her friend to pay her back she claims Witt "fell off the face of the Earth."

"It didn't occur to me there would be a problem loaning her money," Jones told the Post. "She's paid me back [in the past]."

In court papers filed last week in Manhattan Supreme Court, Witt apparently agreed to pay Jones $500 a month, but failed to be consistent with the payments. She has only repaid her friend a bit over $1,375, according to the paper.

The 49-year-old host explained to Jones that her TV-producer husband, Bill Sorensen, was unemployed, and that she was waiting on a new contract from MSNBC. She was so strapped for money, Jones said, that she could not afford to send her daughter Caroline on a school trip to Scotland with her brother, reports the Post.

In an e-mail to Jones in February 2010, Witt wrote: "I could cite example after example of strained living, beginning with not affording new clothes for myself -- this is for a woman who works on TV, and whose professional existence depends on keeping up appearances."

In addition to the $65,000, Jones is seeking unspecified damages, and a promise that Witt never contact her again.