Did Aaron Charney Only Get 100K From Sullivan?LAW
• Will Aaron Charney ever have to work again? More than likely — he may not have gotten more than $100,000 in his sexual-harassment settlement with Sullivan & Cromwell. [PrawfsBlawg via Above the Law]
• Should law schools be more like business schools? One law prof thinks so, and he looks a little like Justin Timberlake, so he must be right. [Law Blog/WSJ]
• Do Cravath’s two rounds of bonuses signal Big Law strength and more money for associates, or is the firm just hedging so they aren’t locked in to paying the same amount next year? [NYT]
party lines
Fox Business Network: The Victory PartyLast night’s launch party for Fox Business Network had so many media and business moguls, you couldn’t throw a canapé without mussing up the rug of some very important dude. Seriously, our throats were burning from inhaling the perfume of wealth and success. In one corner of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur, Liz Smith chatted with Mel Brooks and Harvey Weinstein. (Apparently, Harvey loves the channel. “I love Roger Ailes,” he said, though he would not tell us what he liked the best or whether he ate Money for Breakfast.) In another corner, Oscar and Annette de la Renta greeted Regis and Joy Philbin. And kingly in the middle of it all, like a pair of samurai and their husbands, were Rupert Murdoch, Les Moonves, Julie Chen, and Rupert’s wife, Wendi Deng. “Wendi, we love your bracelets!” we cried in unison, suddenly morphing into Blair’s sidekicks in Gossip Girl. “They were only twenty dollars,” she exclaimed. Wow, we thought. Wendi is so down-to-earth! “But this wasn’t,” she laugh-cackled, flashing us her index finger, which was adorned with what looked to be the actual Hope Diamond.
intel
Rupert Murdoch Enjoys Intimate Dinner With J-VankaStop the presses! We have the best sighting for you: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were out dining together last night at Philippe with Rupert Murdoch! They noshed on the restaurant’s famous chicken satay, they giggled, and they talked seriously. “They definitely looked like they were having a working dinner,” said our spy. “Cordial and serious but some laughs at the table.” Wait a minute. Jared Kushner, owner of the cash-strapped Observer, took his lady to a fancy midtown restaurant to have a serious talk with Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the largest media conglomerate in the world. Can this mean what we think it means? We’re reluctant to acknowledge the implication of this power sighting, but we’ll just have to face the possibility: J-Vanka might be into The Lifestyle.
intel
J-Vanka Sees Maroon 5, Feigns NormalcyIt’s our tireless duty to report that Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were spotted taking in the Maroon 5 show at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. Judging from the way Ivanka had to coax her boy mogul — who didn’t look a day over 18 in his scrappy blue tee — from his seat after a few songs, our tipster guessed that she’s the one with a deep appreciation for singer Adam Levine the band’s modern funk stylings. To his credit, Kushner remained on his feet through the rest of the concert, although he was totally checking his BlackBerry at the start of “This Love.” Putting business before one of the most (annoyingly) addictive anthems of our generation? We knew this kid wasn’t as young as he says he is.
party lines
On the Hunt for J-Vanka at the Whitney Party: Success!The world still wonders: Are Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump dating? And so New York’s Party Lines team remains on the case, tracking J-Vanka through high-profile parties, looking for signs. At last night’s Whitney Art Party in Tribeca, our reporter picked up the scent. What did he find? The short version: They were talking and standing near each other; they left together and were last seen hopping into a chauffeured car and speeding off. The long version, full of detective work, time stamps, evasions, and rediscoveries: It’s after the jump (and sort of pruriently delicious).
gossipmonger
The Soho Grand Is a WonderlandRumors of the demise of the John Mayer–Jessica Simpson relationship may be greatly exaggerated; the two spent Sunday night together at the Soho Grand. (Mayer is also still doing the stand-up comedy thing). Today show correspondent Jill Rappaport owns eighteen acres in the Hamptons. Johnny Damon hung out till 4:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, but he still hit a two-run double later in the day. Ivanka Trump and Zach Braff exchanged numbers. (Uh-oh. Does Jared Kushner know about this?) Warren Buffett, David Remnick, John Kerry, Ted Turner, and Jann Wenner, among others (ahem), were all rejected from Harvard. After asking for $5.5 million, Stone Phillips sold his penthouse on West 72nd Street for $4.35 million. Times managing editor Jill Abramson is suing the truck driver who ran over her foot.
gossipmonger
Oh, J-Vanka!Jared Kushner was caught making out with Ivanka Trump while bowling. While hanging with some ex-CIA spies, Robert De Niro hit the sauna with KGB colonels and fired guns with Taliban warriors. An aide in the Israeli U.N. mission quit after being outed as a DL gay-porn star. NBC paid $2.5 million for the rights to air a Princess Di tribute concert in July, which may have been the reason they also scored an interview with the princes. Surprising Time “100 Most Influential People” includee John Mayer will also perform at the party. Paris Hilton appears in court today for her DUI charges. Jon Stewart and Tom Brokaw helped raise $72 million from hedge-fund bigwigs at a Robin Hood Foundation charity event.
intel
J-Vanka: More Than Friends?
Stop the presses! Here’s the most exciting press release we’ve seen in months, and our excitement has nothing to do with the Michael Shvo development being flacked:
Request For Coverage *INTERVIEWS AVAILABLE*
ICONIC DESIGNER PHILIPPE STARCK AND REAL-ESTATE MARKETING WUNDERKIND MICHAEL SHVO INVITE YOU TO AN EXCLUSIVE PARTY
TO CELEBRATE THE OPENING OF “GRAMERCY STARCK”
WHO: Philippe Starck, Michael Shvo, Jessica Stam (Cover of Vogue this Month-Dating DJ AM), Fabiola Beracasa, Lydia Hearst, Celerie Kimble, Rachel Roy, Jared Kushner (New York Observer “IT” Publisher-Dating Ivanka Trump), Susie Castillo (MTV VJ), Sam Talbot (Top Chef) Greg K, Love Leigh, Geo (The Misshapes), Leven Rambin (All My Children) and a host of other New York VIPs will attend the exclusive event.
The Kush is officially listed as “dating Ivanka Trump”? (The bold was ours, for the record.) Is this final, real confirmation? Has J-Vanka has gone public — in someone else’s press release? We called Stephen Rubenstein — Kushner’s mouthpiece — to check. “They’re still just friends,” he assured us. We’ll take his word for it. But maybe they’re, you know, special friends?
Earlier: Daily Intel’s coverage of J-Vanka.
party lines
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Are Still Just FriendsEmphatically hot emphatic non-couple Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump made the second public declaration in a week of their non-relationship at Vanity Fair’s annual opening party for the Tribeca Film Festival last night. Milling among actual power couples David Bowie and Iman and Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon, J-vanka stood a safe two inches apart from each other at all times, looking as though they were trying very hard to maintain that “just friends” appearance. But, then, the setting — the State Supreme Court building — made PDAs seem inappropriate, anyway. “I had my divorce here,” noted former Viacom chief Tom Freston, happily. “So did I,” said entertainment lawyer Allen Grubman, Lizzie’s dad. They clinked glasses, laughed, and headed inside. —Jada Yuan
Earlier: Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Are Just Friends. Really.
party lines
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump Are Just Friends. Really.
We’re not a billionaire real-estate scion, and we’re not squiring another billionaire real-estate scion around town, so maybe we don’t know what we’re talking about. But as more than one person pointed out at the fancy party for the redesigned Observer its new owner, Jared Kushner, threw at the Four Seasons last night — there was caviar on virtually everything! — if we were busy having our high-priced publicists insist that we and a certain model-developer were just friends, we probably wouldn’t have allowed this photo to be taken. Just saying.
