LITIGATION: The Mismatch Maker

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"We are going to find the one man who is absolutely right for you," declares Helena Amram in ads touting her chain of matchmaking services. But the high- profile doyenne of dating has a date of her own -- in New York State's Supreme Court, where Attorney General Robert Abrams filed a suit last week against several of Amram's firms. The accusation: her clients paid wildly inflated prices for nightmarish nights on the town.

Aggrieved customers tell of dates who were overaged, overweight, underemployed and sometimes already married. One woman recalled an escort who had "dyed bright-orange hair," while another said she was matched with "a man who had a criminal record." For such bottom-drawer Romeos, Amram allegedly charged anywhere from $1,250 to $20,000, far in excess of New York's $250 price limit on social-referral services. Amram's response: "I never break the law." The attorney general's lawsuit seeks restitution of any overcharges and an end to Amram's matchmaking in New York.