‘Da luv shack …
A couple days ago we noted the odd story, reported by Newsweek, of how glamorous celebrity book publisher Judith Regan had to hire a bodyguard to protect her from Kerik after their relationship “soured.”
Now, Newsweek said that the two were “occasional workout partners.” But clearly I’m way behind the times on the latest euphemisms. Because these weren’t the sort of workouts you do at the gym, or, I should say, at least not in the public areas. The Daily News reports today that not only was Kerik carrying on an affair with Regan but also, at the same time, with city Correction Officer Jeanette Pinero. Pinero, you’ll remember from yesterday evening’s post, is the woman at the center of the civil suit in which Kerik had to testify just a couple days ago. The plaintiff in that case former deputy warden Eric DeRavin III says Kerik kept him from getting promoted because he had reprimanded Pinero. (The Daily News reports that the city has already ready settled one case related to the Kerik-Pinero relationship.)
And since Kerik was married while all this was going, he had a secret love den set up down in Battery Park City where he’d meet Regan and Pinero for their workouts.
And that, it seems, was how he eventually came to grief. According to the Daily News, after one workout Regan left a “romantic note” for Kerik. But, as so often seems to happen in these cases, it was found by, you guessed it, Mrs. Pinero (yes, she’s married too).
Pinero and Regan chatted on the phone; and presumably things were never quite the same.
The Battery Park love shack saga would also seem to throw a little light on one question left dangling from yesterday’s story in the Daily News.
In that piece, Lawrence Ray, Kerik’s financial benefactor with all the mob connections, said that “Kerik always complained about surviving on his civil servant salary.” That, notwithstanding the fact that a December 1997 piece in the Times reported that Kerik’s starting salary as Corrections chief was $136,990 a year.
But now the story comes into clearer focus because not only was Kerik paying for the place on E. 79th street where he and his wife lived. He was also paying through the nose for the love den down in Battery Park which the Daily News estimates cost between $3,150 to $6,200 in monthly rent.
With those sorts of expenses, no wonder he had to rely on Ray to pay off some of his bills.
Late Update: A reader notes that the owner of the apartment complex where the love den was located is Milstein Properties, a big player in New York City commercial and residential real estate. The Daily News estimates that the love den, a snazzy furnished apartment, could have cost as much as six grand a month. Even if that had been Kerik’s only New York pad, that would be a stretch on his salary. So who was paying that rent? Or was it even being charged?
