Giuseppe Cipriani hasn't been seen on U.S. soil since last December, either because he suspects he may end up in handcuffs if he returns, or because he's been "exploring new business ventures" in far-off locales for the past nine months or so. But just because he isn't physically present—and has left his family's crumbling hospitality empire in the (undoubtedly) capable hands of his teenage sons—doesn't mean you're not allowed to give his (undoubtedly) overworked attorney another headache to deal with. Cipriani, his father Arrigo, and their collection of NYC-based companies, were slapped with (another) class action lawsuit this week by a former employee who claims he was stiffed on wages and never compensated for his overtime work. The suit, which is probably now sitting atop a giant tower of legal paperwork on Cipriani's lawyer's desk, is below.

New York's epic article about Annie Leibovitz in this week's issue is well worth a read, particularly since it sheds a little light on how it is one of the world's highest-paid photographers now finds herself on the brink of financial ruin. (If the only person you'll allow to repair your air-conditioner has to travel to NYC from Vermont to do the work, that's probably not a good sign.) Leibovitz's financial fate will likely be sealed in September when the $24 million loan she secured from Art Capital Group last year is due. Interestingly, though, Leibovitz appears to be hinting that the terms of the loan— which required her to put up the rights to her photos and real estate holdings as collateral—only became apparent to her after the Times reported on Art Capital Group back in February. Friends of the photographer suggest that Leibovitz had no idea she was giving up so much when she took out the loan; they also seem to be shifting some of the blame to Ken Starr, the financial adviser who took the photographer on as a client in 2007 and who was also responsible for introducing Leibovitz to Art Capital Group. Pinning the blame on Starr, who boasts an insanely long list of celebrity clients, may be a hard argument to make.

This morning we heard that 5WPR, flackery-mongering home of incompetent superflack Ronn [sic] Torossian, had a run-in with the Labor department yesterday. We have details from insiders. They are more ridiculous than you may have anticipated. Craziness, ahoy! [UPDATED below].

Anderson Cooper worked out earlier this afternoon at the flashy new David Barton Gym on Astor Place. Things headed downhill, however, when he walked out of the gym with a guy who appeared to be his trainer. You can view Andy's rainy day ordeal, in four acts, by clicking on the photo above.

Rupert Murdoch is currently using his 183-foot sailboat. Or at least he was a few weeks ago when the Rosehearty was spotted in Auke Bay, Alaska and the "rumor on the dock" was that mogul's special on-board guest was none other Mel Gibson. But if you're planning ahead, you may want to take note that you can now rent Murdoch's "aluminum masterpiece" by the week. It's not cheap—it will run you €220,000, or $310,000, a week. Then again, no one ever said a "stunning interior by famous French designer Christian Liagre" came cheap, and you can bring nine friends with you, so maybe you can split up the costs? While you try and make the numbers work, you can take the grand tour of Murdoch's floating palace after the jump.

So much for the truce between MSNBC and Fox. Since news of a cease fire (or at least a ratcheting down of the rhetoric) appeared in the pages of the New York Times twelve days ago, whatever fragile peace the two networks negotiated has dissolved into the usual volley of insults. Bill O'Reilly is once again the worst person in the world, according to Keith Olbermann. And MSNBC's parent company, GE, is once again responsible for supporting terrorist regimes that are hell-bent on America's destruction, according to O'Reilly. Few at MSNBC and Fox News are happy the deal has unraveled—and both sides have said they're hoping to salvage it, an unlikely prospect at this point—although some of the most annoyed people around are the NBC staffers who are getting increasingly fed up with Olbermann's antics.

It's been more than two years since restaurateur (and drama magnet) Nello Balan filed suit against Amy Sacco's Bungalow 8, accusing the club's bouncers of beating him up during a visit to the former hot spot back in May 2006. Nello came forward in the spring of 2007 to say that a bouncer had punched him in the eye and hit him over the head with a metal object (he also said his 21-year daughter was pushed), and the altercation left him with 10 stitches and a fracture to his eye-socket.

We've learned that Page Six has hired Emily Smith, formerly of The Sun (UK) and Life & Style, as a replacement for recently-departed deputy editor Paula Froelich.

It's been a year and a half since John Schaefer was ousted as the chef at Irving Mill, the new American restaurant located near Union Square. (Schaefer was replaced by Ryan Skeen, the rising star who's since left Irving Mill himself and is now running things at Allen & Delancey.) But Schaefer's stint at Irving Mill is now the subject of a contentious, messy dispute between the former Gramercy Tavern executive chef and Irving Mill's owners, Suzanne, Mario, and Sergio Riva.

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"?

Earlier this week, Condé Nast announced that it had hired McKinsey & Co. to help it "rethink" how it does business and "develop new perspectives on optimizing our approach to business [and] growing revenues." Is it a coincidence that Condé's parent company filed a lawsuit against the British West Indies today?

Martha MacCallum may look like just another cutesy blonde anchor on Fox News. But it seems she has a darker side, too. A tipster tells us MacCallum threw quite the tantrum yesterday at a parking garage around the corner from the studios of Fox News when she turned up with her daughter in tow and her BMW wasn't waiting for her with the keys in the ignition. The outrage!

Did you subscribe to Portfolio just before Condé Nast announced plans to shut down the magazine? Perhaps you were burned when you plunked down a few bucks for a Men's Vogue subscription? Kenneth Rogers feels your pain. The Alabama resident subscribed to Vibe three months before the magazine announced it would discontinue publishing, an event that Rogers says "injured" him, since he's hasn't "received a refund for the remaining balance on his magazine subscription and is no longer receiving Vibe Magazine." Rogers isn't writing off the loss and moving on with his life, though. He's filed a class action lawsuit against Vibe and its owners for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and for violating New York State's deceptive practices statute. Rogers is asking a judge to give him his $10 back as well as award punitive damages and pay for his legal fees, too. In the meantime, you can review Rogers' slightly ridiculous lawsuit for yourself below.

It's an open secret that Perez Hilton can't be bothered to blog all day long anymore. But for some reason he's never copped to using ghost writers. Until now.

We've received a bit more info on Ali Wise, the Dolce & Gabbana publicist and social fixture who was arrested this week for allegedly hacking into the voicemail account of interior designer Nina Freudenberger. And it looks like Freudenberger may not be quite as innocent as she's led on. As Page Six reported today, the man at the middle of this little squabble is Josh Deutsch, the founder of Downtown Records.

Wass Stevens, New York's most prominent club doorman, was arrested yesterday after he (allegedly!) beat a college kid with the metal end of a velvet rope after he tried to get into Avenue, but became "belligerent" when Stevens denied him entry. It looks like Stevens' crime wave continues. A friend of Cityfile just sent us this photo of the nightlife fixture sitting on his motorcycle and chatting on his cell on the corner of Broadway and Astor. "I'm pretty sure it's a traffic violation to park on the sidewalk like that," she writes. "He's right in front of a police van, too." If you had doubts that Wass had balls of steel, well, consider the matter settled. Further evidence of his criminal tendencies below.

The Real Housewives of New York City are back in the news (not that they ever left, really), since production on the next season of the show has been held up while four of the five ladies bicker with Bravo over how much they're going to get paid. The only one who's agreed to participate thus far? That would be Kelly Bensimon, the least-liked member of the cast, at least according to the poll on Bravo's website. We'll all have to hope the dispute is resolved shortly and Kelly gets to reunite with her castmates in the near future. But in the meantime—and because we know you want to keep Kelly by your side all summer long—we took a bit of audio from her totally insane interview with ObsessedTV and turned her into a 12-second ringtone. Just because your fave NYC housewives won't be on the air for the next few months doesn't mean you can't be reminded of Kelly's generous spirit every time your phone rings. (Oh, and yes: that is the Exorcist theme playing in the background. For some odd reason, we though it was fitting.) Click here to download the ringtone. Or click on Kelly's pic above. Enjoy!

Back in March, the New York Times Co. put its 1997 Dassault Falcon jet up for sale for $9.5 million. Several months passed without a buyer stepping forward, and now we hear the plane has been pulled off the market entirely. Did the company finally find someone to take it off its hands? Did Arthur Sulzberger Jr. decide to hang on to it? (Probably not.) Maybe the paper is planning to give it a good scrub-down before putting it up for sale again in the fall? We have no clue. But if you do, let us know! [Previously]

Brace yourselves. We just may have pinpointed the whereabouts of Ruth Madoff. (She's been at an "undisclosed location" since she was forced out of her East 64th Street penthouse last week.) A reliable source who has been in touch with acquaintances of the family tells us she's been staying at the home of her niece, Diane Hochman, in Hewlett, Long Island.

Many people have criticized The Huffington Post for not paying its writers. But Ken Lerer, who co-founded the site with Arianna Huffington and remains the company's chairman, sure has one heck of a generous streak. Last week, we noticed that Joey Bartolomeo, a senior writer at People and frequent TV talking head, had purchased an apartment on the Upper East Side. What was strange was that Bartolomeo didn't buy the $1.025 million co-op on her own. Lerer's name appeared on the property documents as well. And it turns out that Joey isn't the first member of the Bartolomeo family to have benefited from Lerer's largesse. Bartolomeo's older sister, Stephanie Bartolomeo, picked up a $1.25 million co-op on the Upper West Side back in March. And once again, Lerer co-signed for the apartment.