Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Polo-playing paper tycoon Peter Brant has had plenty of drama on his plate in recent weeks. His divorce from Stephanie Seymour has only been getting messier by the day. (Last week, the ex-supermodel got into a shoving match with one of Brant's bodyguards at the couple's Greenwich estate; over the weekend, she was issued a summons after another run-in with Brant's staff.) But that isn't the only crisis unfolding in the house of Brant. The convicted felon—Brant served 84 days in prison in 1990 after pleading guilty to tax fraud—is now watching Interview, the art/fashion mag founded by Andy Warhol and which Brant has controlled since the late 1980s, crumble to pieces. And it's all happened under the not-very-watchful eye of the man that Brant appointed to oversee his collection of magazines—his equally scandal-plagued son, Ryan Brant.More

Sugar Daddy Case in Greenwich Concludes with Guilty Pleas | Remember Stephen Dent, the DuPont heir who used the website SeekingArrangement.com to meet young women for sex, but ended up becoming the victim of three different extortion attempts? A couple involved in one of the plots, Christopher and Dawn Jessop, pleaded guilty in a Connecticut courtroom yesterday. The husband was sentenced to 18 months in jail; his wife received three years of probation. And hopefully Dent has found more useful (and less dangerous) ways to spend his free time. [NYM]

Extorted DuPont Heir Is Also a Masochist, Apparently | For the past few weeks, newspapers in Connecticut have been buzzing about a wealthy man who used SeekingArrangement.com to meet young women for sex and who became the victim of an extortion attempt when a lady he encountered on the site vowed to publicly expose his taste for prostitutes if he didn't come up with $100,000. (The site, which is designed for sugar daddies and the women who love them, was profiled in New York Times Magazine last month.) Over the weekend, the name of the mystery man was revealed—he's DuPont heir and money manager Stephen Dent. And it turns out this isn't his first time he's been down this road. According to the police in Greenwich, at least three women he has met on the site over the past few years have tried to blackmail him. Even more surprising? He says he's coping with the saga just fine thanks to the "tremendous support he has received from his wife." [Greenwich Time]

The stories we recounted last week about the abusive working conditions at the estate of Nelson Peltz (see here and here) weren't the first complaints directed at the billionaire investor. Last month, James Turowski, who says he worked as a bodyguard and chauffeur for Peltz, filed a discrimination lawsuit against his employer. Turowski says he was working for the Peltzes when he sustained a serious head injury, and he ultimately had to be hospitalized for several weeks as a result. When he returned to work, however, he was almost immediately fired, a violation, he claims, of city and state employment laws as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act. Last week, Peltz's attorneys filed papers to move the case from state court to federal court. But Peltz's legal team may have more on its plate in the near future. We hear several former employees of his estate are now looking into filing a class action suit over the treatment they received working at Peltz's Westchester mansion. In the meantime, you'll find Turowski's suit after the jump.More

We have some new—and disturbing—information on the house of horrors in Bedford occupied by billionaire Nelson Peltz and his wife Claudia. (If you missed yesterday's installment, go here.) We've made contact with several other people who worked inside the home in the past, and their stories, which are just as outrageous as the ones we'd heard previously, make it clear that the Peltzes may very well be the scariest couple to work for in the tri-state area.More

Steve Rattner may eventually face civil and/or criminal charges in connection with an alleged kickback scheme involving his investment firm, Quadrangle Group. Many suspect it's just a matter of time before the scandal forces President Obama to oust him as his point man on the auto industry bailout. There's speculation he'll face repercussions from Quadrangle investors as a result of the saga. And even if he manages to avoid any serious legal consequences, there's no question his rep has taken a big blow. But he has one person on his side: Michael Bloomberg! More

It's a good thing financier Steve Rattner only (allegedly) invested in movies to (allegedly) bribe state officials, and not because he thought he had a talent for picking quality films. The trailer for Chooch, the movie that Rattner (allegedly) paid $88,000 to obtain the distribution rights for, couldn't be more painful to watch. Of course, Rattner's decision to (allegedly) buy the DVD rights to the movie did help his Quadrangle Group allegedly rope in a $100 million investment from the New York state pension fund, not that means very much now that the (alleged) scheme has been exposed and the payments are under investigation. But it's a good thing they don't prosecute people for crimes against culture or Rattner would really be in trouble right now.

It looks like someone's evening was just ruined: Steve Rattner, the high-profile financier who was responsible for managing Michael Bloomberg's fortune until recently, and who now heads up the Obama administration's auto task force, is reportedly one of the executives who has been tied to the alleged kickback scheme at New York state's pension fund, according to "a person familiar with the matter" who spoke with the the Wall Street Journal.More

AIG has sparked quite the scandal in recent days for paying out $165 million in bonuses even after accepting more than $150 billion in assistance from the U.S. government. Execs at the insurance giant maintain the company is legally bound to follow through with the payments since the bonuses were incorporated into contracts it signed last year. But that's not the only legal agreement that has AIG wasting its cash: The company continues to pay for the privilege of stamping its logo on the jerseys worn by Manchester United players, too. More

It was reported several weeks ago that Peter Madoff—brother of the newly imprisoned Bernie and his long-time business partner—had transferred ownership of his $4.6 million Palm Beach home to his wife right around the same time the Madoffs learned that their firm was under investigation. We have the documents below to prove it, if you're interested in seeing what may very well be entered into evidence at some point in the future. More

The Spitzer Anniversary | Can you believe it's been a full year since Eliot Spitzer was linked to an escort service and he was forced to give that awkward press conference with wife Silda by his side? It has! Although as NY1 points out, it's also the anniversary of the day Governor Peter Stuyvesant issued a law prohibiting goats and hogs from roaming the streets of New Amsterdam. [NY1]

In news that will come as a surprise to precisely no one, it appears the Palm Beach Country Club has taken the final step and officially expelled Bernie Madoff from the club. A tipster tells us that late last week, Bernie's golf handicap at the PBCC, which had been posted to the United States Golf Association website, suddenly vanished. Unfortunately, we were unable to confirm the latest disgrace to a man who couldn't even play golf if he wanted to: A woman who answered the club's phone said no one would be prepared to comment on the matter. But all is not lost for the Madoff clan!More

When we revealed the details of Michael Wolff's affair with a former Vanity Fair intern last week, Wolff promised his lawyer would be in touch with us, presumably to refute the charges. But it's been several days now and we've yet to hear from him. Does this mean he's not prepared to dispute the account? Or is his lawyer just busy with other matters? We're going to go with the former and "assume the extreme," an approach that Wolff himself suggested in a June 2008 Vanity Fair story entitled "It's the Adultery, Stupid." (An excerpt from the piece, which we edited a touch, is above.) But in the event we did get any of the details wrong, Michael, your lawyer can reach us at 646-723-4542. We're waiting!

The Noels: Just as Awful as You Imagined | Vicky Ward's article on the Noel family from the April issue of Vanity Fair is now online. Don't expect the piece to change your impressions of disgraced hedge fund manager Walter, his wife Monica, or his five daughters and sons-in-law. (Former friends and neighbors describe the family as "irritating," "shameless," and "outlandish," among other things.) And you won't find the Noels to be any closer to figuring out that they've become personas non grata. The couple continue to turn up at parties—even though no one wants to be seen with them—and they keep "a folder of supportive letters from friends" which they pull out when visitors stop by their Greenwich home. Daughter Marisa Noel Brown seems to be adjusting a bit better, though! As she tells friends, "I've been poor before. I can be poor again." [VF]

Marla Maples, Anna Nicole Smith, Padma Lakshmi, Monica Lewinsky, Amy Fisher, Patricia Duff, Paula Fortunato, Cindy McCain, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss, Ellen Barkin, Katie Lee Joel: You're in fine company, Victoria Floethe! Hearty congratulations to you and Michael. Click on the photo for a large screenshot.

Young Women Who Like Old Men [NYP]
Michael Wolff and His Extra Special Intern [Cityfile]