Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Bernie Kerik: Convicted Felon, Devoted Dad | Former police commissioner Bernie Kerik almost went crazy in prison these past couple of weeks. But now he's going home! A judge released Kerik on bail today pending his sentencing in February on the eight felony counts he pleaded guilty to last week. So it's a good day, right? Not entirely. Not only will he remain under house arrest until then, a judge put the kibosh on Kerik's request that he be allowed to leave his house to walk his kids to school. "This is not home confinement with morning strolls and afternoon strolls," the judge responded. [NYT]

Bernie Pleads Guilty | Former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik has taken the deal offered to him by prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to eight counts against him, including tax fraud and making false statements to the federal government, and he now faces between 27 to 33 months in prison. [CNN]

Bernie Kerik Has a Big Decision Ahead of Him | Bernie Kerik is no longer crazy, apparently. After displaying behavior that "put him at risk" and spending 10 days in a psychiatric facility, New York's former police commissioner was allowed to return to a regular prison cell at the Westchester County Jail yesterday. More

Bernie Kerik Sent to Jail | Former NYC police commissioner Bernie Kerik is on his way to jail this afternoon. A judge revoked bail in his trial on conspiracy and fraud charges today after he concluded that Kerik could not be trusted to honor an order barring him from disclosing confidential information related to the trial. (The judge described him as a "toxic combination of self-minded focus and arrogance," which sounds about right.) Fortunately for Kerik, the trial is taking place in Federal District Court in White Plains, not in Manhattan, so he won't have spend the forseeable future confined to a cell in a building that was once named the Bernard B. Kerik Complex. That could have been a bit awkward. [NYT]

Mark Madoff's Downward Spiral | It isn't easy being the son of Bernie Madoff, clearly. On Wednesday night, a "stressed-out" Mark Madoff got into an argument with his wife, stormed out of the apartment, hopped on his Vespa scooter, and disappeared into the night. Fearing the worst, Stephanie Madoff called the cops to report him missing. But he turned out to be okay. He returned to the apartment the next morning and explained that he'd spent the night at the Soho Grand. And he proved that despite all the psychological pressure he says he's been under—which us supported by the slovenly look he's been sporting in recent months—he's still a Madoff at the end of the day. He reportedly checked into the hotel under a fake name and paid the bill in cash. [NYP]

Marc Dreier's Last Days of Semi-Freedom | If you haven't had time to read the lengthy story about disgraced lawyer Marc Dreier in the new issue of Vanity Fair, you can check out the Dreier interview that aired on 60 Minutes last night. The segment doesn't reveal much new info on Dreier, who is now behind bars for defrauding investors out of $400 million. But you will get to see the lonely lawyer pad around the apartment where he was under house arrest this spring and where he didn't have much to do all day but munch on cereal, read the newspaper, and watch TV. "Do you have any friends?" asks Steve Kroft. "It doesn't seem so." [CBS]

Dick Fuld Surrenders the Ridge | Big news for golf aficionados who also happen to be closely following the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. As Reuters reported last week, ex-Lehman CEO Dick Fuld gave up his membership at the Blind Brook Country Club in Purchase following his fall from grace last year. Our trusted source for all mogul-related golf news now tells us that Blind Brook isn't the only club that no longer has the pleasure of Fuld's company. He's also abandoned his membership at the Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale. Clearly, the situation has gone from bad to much, much worse.

It's been nearly a year since Lehman Brothers went bust, making it the perfect occasion to send a reporter to hunt down Lehman's former CEO, Dick Fuld. A Reuters correspondent managed to find him last Friday, looking tan and dressed in and well-rested at his "country house in a bucolic setting beside a river and amid tree-covered slopes in Ketchum, Idaho." So how's he doing?More

Joe Gregory, the cash-starved former president of Lehman Brothers, hasn't had much luck selling his oceanfront house in Bridgehampton. (He cut the price from $32 million to $27.9 million a few months back, although that hasn't helped any, apparently.) Time to move on to Plan B, it seems. Gregory is now asking a bankruptcy judge to pay him the $232,999.548.71 he says he's owed in deferred compensation "in the form of performance- and restricted-stock grants." Now that's rich, isn't it? He helped run the bank into the ground and now he'd like to get paid for his "performance"? We're not quite sure how Gregory came up with this $233 million figure, but we're inclined to think the judge should cut him a check for $19.99. That way Gregory can go to Staples and buy himself a Brother P-Touch 80 so when he makes outrageous financial demands in the future, he'll at least be able to affix a profession-looking label to the envelope. Just because you had a hand in the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history and your reputation is now ruined doesn't mean you can get sloppy! Gregory's handwritten submission to the court below.More

Jim McGreevey: Five Years Later | It was five years ago yesterday that Jim McGreevey announced he was "a gay American," and said he was resigning as New Jersey's governor. What's he up to now? He's studying divinity and spends free time volunteering at a church in Harlem, and he tells the Star-Ledger that he's made peace with the past. ("I'm grateful for my brokenness. I'm grateful for my humility.") Also, as you probably could have guessed, he had a pretty good idea for how Eliot Spitzer was feeling during his sex scandal last March: "I felt pain for his family, and I prayed for his family, and I knew that he would once again discover productive service as he has. He's an incredibly bright, capable individual and he will continue to serve in different ways." [NJ.com via Gothamist]

Jeffrey Epstein was released from a Florida prison last week for soliciting underage girls for sex, which means he is now free to pursue the "philanthropic endeavors" that his lawyer says he's been eager to get back to. What these good deeds will consist of isn't clear, but perhaps one item on the agenda will be focusing his attention on "exonerating the wrongfully convicted" and "reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice"? More

Jeffrey Epstein, Sex Offender For Life | Pervy money manager Jeffrey Epstein got out of prison yesterday, which means he can finally begin to put the last couple of years behind him and move on with his life, right? Not really. Since Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting underage prostitutes, he had to register as a sex offender yesterday, a status that will be with him for the rest of his life. (That could explain the not-so-happy look on his face in this photo.) Florida's sex offender registry helpfully allows you to sign up for alerts so you're notified if someone moves to a new location. Naturally, if Epstein ever decides to leave his Palm Beach mansion and return home to his 45,000-square-foot, eight-story townhouse on East 71st Street, we'll be sure to notify you immediately. Epstein's full "predator flyer" is below.More

Guess who's been released from prison? That would be Jeffrey Epstein, the secretive money manager who pleaded guilty in 2007 to soliciting underage teen girls for sex. Epstein has spent the last year or so in a Palm Beach prison, although he hasn't had to spend every minute of the day confined to a cell. As part of a work-release program, Epstein was allowed to leave his cell during the day and work from an "office" in West Palm Beach, work that reportedly involved helping the government build a case against the Bear Stearns hedge fund that imploded last year and cost Epstein the $67 million he'd invested in the fund. His cooperation helped shave six months off his sentence and early this morning Epstein skipped out of jail, using a side entrance to avoid the reporters that had gathered outside to greet him. But while his lawyer told a reporter that Epstein is thrilled that "this part of his life is over," and he's "ready to move on to other things," it doesn't look like he's totally put his past behind him.More

The apartment that belonged to disgraced lawyer Marc Dreier goes up for auction at 1pm today. And the winning bidder won't just walk away with a 3,000-square-foot pad and 738-square-foot terrace on the 34th floor of One Beacon Court. All the items that Dreier left behind are part of the package as well. In addition to nine pints of Haagen Dazs ice cream in the freezer, the lucky bidder will also walk away with "a half-eaten raspberry peach pie, a collection of Christian Liaigre furnishings and seven pairs of black Ermenegildo Zegna shoes, mostly size eight." Naturally, there's a catch, a little detail that goes unmentioned by the firm handling the auction this afternoon. Since Dreier was under house arrest for several months and wasn't even permitted to leave his apartment to walk the dog, the jailed lawyer is also reportedly leaving behind a terrace that's covered with dog doo. Bring a spoon (for the ice cream) and a bucket full of cleaning supplies (for the doo), and you'll be fully prepared. [Bloomberg]

Jeffrey Epstein, the shadowy money manager who pleaded guilty in 2007 to soliciting underage teen girls for sex, is expected to leave a Florida prison in a couple of weeks. (Not that he's been spending much time behind bars in recent months: As part of a work-release program, he's been allowed to leave the jail from 10am to 10 pm, six days a week, to "work" out of his "office" in West Palm Beach.) But while Epstein has something to be cheerful about these days, one of his old acquaintances was handed a major defeat last week. Maximilia "Ava" Cordero, the transgender teenager who sued Epstein and claimed she'd been forced to engage in "bizarre and unnatural sex acts" with the billionaire in exchange for his help advancing her career as a model, just lost her libel and defamation lawsuit against the New York Post. More