Supermarket billionaire
Ron Burkle's name keeps popping up in the
oddest places, doesn't it? When conman
Rafaello Follieri was finally busted last week, the
suit filed against him by his former business partner Burkle kept coming up. Jeffrey Epstein—finally sentenced yesterday for sex with a minor—used to be
"very friendly" with Ron. They compared notes on planes! In that
Vanity Fair story that upset
Bill Clinton so much,
it was Burkle who had those unnamed staffers worried about the appearance of impropriety. Now—the oddest one yet?—King of Pop
Michael Jackson announced in a court deposition that it was
Ron Burkle, along with the Reverend
Jesse Jackson, who saved his life when he ran out of money. Burkle brought in the Reverend to help, and Burkle's
also done quite a bit of business with the Reverend's son Yusef (they own
Radar together!). What a cast of unlikely characters! Did this rogues' gallery of amoral power-junkies select Ron, or vice versa? Why does the ostensibly liberal do-gooder zillionaire associate with these guys?
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