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Posts Tagged “
Ron Burkle
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moguls
Why Ron Burkle Will Never Be Happy
You would think that Ron Burkle would lead a charmed life, considering all the perks he enjoys as a billionaire mogul. He flies around on a private jet! He cozies up to starlets! He hangs out with fellow horndog Bill Clinton! He secretly backs Radar, and has the best flacks money can buy to control his press coverage! But no amount of money will allow Burkle to have it both ways; he wants the parties and models, but not the notoriety that comes with them. Sorry Ron, you have to choose one or the other. Because when you're out bothering models and sharing girls with Leonardo DiCaprio, we hear all about it: More »
Crime
Raffaello Follieri Pleads Guilty, Has Bad Hair Day
International playboy and fraud superstar Raffaello Follieri is no longer just an alleged swindler. As was rumored earlier this week, he pleaded guilty yesterday to 14 counts of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering in connection with a Catholic church property investment scam. He had to give up $2.4 million, along with all that nice jewelry he gave to his charmed girlfriend Anne Hathaway. Next time give a poor man a shot, Anne! Now Follieri's personal grooming is paying the price for his foolish decision not to listen to Lizzie Grubman: More »
Crime
Follieri May Plead Guilty To Swindling
Oh, how the fake mighty have fallen. Raffaello Follieri, who just months ago was a high-flying "investment" operator with Ron Burkle's money and Anne Hathaway on his arm, "is near an agreement to plead guilty to fraud and money-laundering charges," according to the Wall Street Journal. Follieri hasn't previously admitted guilt, but the charges against him were fairly damning. Follieri would join his father as a convicted swindler. But his decision to settle (if he actually does) doesn't mean that he couldn't have constructed a defense for himself: More »
Reconsiderations
Jared Paul Stern, A Manhattan Media Tragedy
I never thought the day would come when I might feel sympathy for Jared Paul Stern. When he was busted for trying to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from Ron "I'm a billionaire, baby" Burkle back in '06, I wrote a dismissive piece about how Stern was such a scumbag in a scumbag industry that nobody should really be surprised. I would sum up my appraisal of him at the time with this word: "Scumbag." But times change! Stern's dogged pursuit of doomed lawsuits against the chuckling billionaire and a painful sex scandal have softened my heart. I may have been too harsh on poor JPS, after all. More »
they're just like us
Adorable Ukraine Has Own Ron Burkle
Our economy is tanking and our super-wealthy are in trouble because all their money is tied up in poor people's mortgages, or something. But in the rest of the world, there's a whole new generation of oligarchs benefiting from the booming commodities market. One of them, Victor Pinchuk from the Ukraine, is doing something terrible and unheard-of with his billions of dollars—buying status and influence. Amazingly, his deep pocketbooks have even bought him the ear of former President Bill Clinton! That incorruptible public servant hanging out with sketchy billionaires is one thing, but sketchy foreign billionaires? According to the Times, the two men have bonded over "a fondness for blending high policy with kitschy celebrity gatherings." Unmentioned: private jets full of models and coeds? [NYT]
backstory
Yusef Jackson's Money
Ownership of a media outlet can still occasionally protect public figures from unwelcome attention. New York Post owner Rupert Murdoch does seem to have a tacit non-disparagement arrangement with Mort Zuckerman of the New York Daily News. However, an investment like Yusef Jackson and Ron Burkle's in Radar magazine is the equivalent of one of those fluffy tails that grayhounds chase after so mindlessly: tantalizing to any muckraking journalist. More »
magazines
The 'Nuts' Story That Won't Be Appearing On Radar
Reverend Jesse Jackson's secretly videotaped vow to cut off Barack Obama's nuts is a wonderful story, combining inter-generational resentment, racial politics and testicles. A wonderful story, that is, for every media outlet except Maer Roshan's Radar. The magazine is backed in name at least by Yusef Jackson, the Reverend's hotter and gayer son, who would have been better advised to stick with glamorous and manly beer distributorship his father arranged for him. More »
lawsuits
Jared Paul Stern Will Sue Ron Burkle Forever
Former Page Sixer Jared Paul Stern's defamation suit against billionaire creep Ron Burkle was recently tossed out, as we all know. But his nutty lawyer Larry Klayman promised an appeal! Unfortunately, that appeal can't go forward in New York just now. Klayman, who is insane, is not allowed to practice law in New York, and Stern's New York attorney just quit, saying his "military service is complete." Yeesh. Still, they'll hire a new guy and fight on. Why? Why continue embarrassing himself further? Stern explained why in a terse statement: "I've got nothing better to do than bury the fucker if it takes 20 years." Enjoy your gadfly, Ron!
billionaire pervs
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?
More »
The Company Ron Burkle Keeps
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?
More »
