Lady Gaga will not have to pay US$500,000 reward to woman tied to dognapping of her French bulldogs

Lady Gaga at the 95th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on March 12. A Los Angeles County Judge ruled that the singer will not have to pay out the $500,000 reward that she promised for her French bulldogs’ safe return following a 2021 dognapping incident. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

A Los Angeles County Judge ruled Monday that singer Lady Gaga will not have to pay out the US$500,000 reward that she promised for her French bulldogs' safe return following a 2021 dognapping incident.

The judge's ruling found that Jennifer McBride, one of the suspects in the 2021 incident that left Gaga's dog walker wounded from a gunshot, had "unclean hands," and that as a result McBride was "not entitled" to the reward money.

"Although Plaintiff alleges that her motivation was to protect the bulldogs (and also collect US$500,000.00), this alleged motivation does not negate her guilt of the charge because she has admitted receiving the bulldogs with knowledge that they were stolen property," the ruling states.

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After formally being charged in the dognapping case in April 2021, McBride filed a lawsuit in 2022 against Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, claiming the singer breached a contract stating the reward money would be awarded with "no questions asked" about the return of her dogs.

Fraud by false promise and fraud by misrepresentation were also listed in the lawsuit as the basis for damages.

McBride is currently on probation for two years after pleading guilty to receiving stolen property of more than US$950, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office.

She was initially charged with one count of accessory after the fact and receiving stolen property, but the accessory after the fact charge was dismissed contemporaneously as part of a plea deal.

CNN has reached out to McBride as well as Gaga's attorneys for comment.