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Jet for Sale! Starbucks Takes a Cue from Citigroup

cityfile · 01/28/09 10:47AM

Citigroup created a storm of controversy earlier this week when it was revealed that the ailing bank planned to go ahead with the purchase of a $50 million corporate jet. It looks like the public reaction—which included a condemnation from President Obama and members of Congress—and the bank's decision to abandon the deal are being heard loud and clear across corporate America. We can report that Starbucks, which faced harsh criticism two weeks ago after it was revealed that the coffee giant had purchased a $45 million Gulfstream 550, is now looking to sell the plane, less than a month after taking delivery of the aircraft.

Virgin America Files Suit Over Flight 1549 Parody

cityfile · 01/27/09 11:12AM

Virgin doesn't have a problem mocking current events as part of its own ad campaigns. (Perhaps you saw Virgin Mobile's Eliot Spitzer-themed ad last year?) But clearly Virgin America isn't quite as happy when other people do it. The company filed a lawsuit against the advertising blog Adrants.com yesterday over a fake ad the site posted on the day Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River. The spoof (left), which appeared below the headline "The Hudson Crash: Just One More Reason to Fly Virgin," was later updated to make it clear the ad was a parody. (It was eventually removed from the site entirely, although you'll find a cached version here.) But that hasn't stopped Virgin from suing Adrants and the site's founders for defamation, trademark infringement and dilution, false designation, and false and deceptive advertising. "Virgin America deplores the fact that anyone would try to take advantage of the crash of flight 1549," the company said in court documents. (Here's looking at you, Ken Cole!) You can take a look at Virgin's full lawsuit after the jump.

Janklow Townhouse Hits the Market

cityfile · 01/26/09 06:30PM

Two weeks ago, Page Six reported that lit agent Luke Janklow and his wife, Julie, the founder of the restaurant Sweetiepie in the West Village, were splitting up. "Real estate brokers are already eyeing the couple's magnificent townhouse nearby," the column quipped. It looks like Paula Del Nunzio of Brown Harris Stevens ended up winning the beauty contest. Today she posted the listing for 16 West 12th Street, which the Janklows bought for $4.5 million in 2004 from another divorcing couple, hotelier Andre Balazs and Ford Models CEO Katie Ford. The home is now on the market for $24.975 million; you can take a look around the stunning townhouse after the jump.

Defamer Corners Sundance Sophomore Bobcat Goldthwait

STV · 01/23/09 03:36PM

His manic persona may have ebbed, and his profile may have lowered since the 1980s. All the better for Bobcat Goldthwait, one of the unlikelier Sundance darlings we've run into this year in Park City.

Meet Maggio, Our Favorite Member of the Cipriani Clan

cityfile · 01/22/09 10:22AM

We've heard plenty about Giuseppe Cipriani and all of his tax problems, liquor license issues, credit difficulties, and messy legal disputes. We've even heard about Giuseppe's 20-year-old son Ignazio, who was arrested last month for clocking a bouncer outside 1Oak. Allow us to turn your attention to the youngest—and most adorable—member of the Cipriani family, Maggio. The 18-year-old graduated high school (Dwight) last year and is now employed by dad. But he's having a pretty good time when he's not working, as you can see from the photos after the jump.

Citi Crumbles, Sandy Watches From the 46th Floor

cityfile · 01/16/09 12:29PM

Citigroup reported $18 billion in losses 2008, has fired some 60,000 employees in recent months, and is currently in the process of dismantling the financial services giant. Earlier this week, the bank announced plans to sell a majority stake in Smith Barney to Morgan Stanley. Today, it revealed plans to divide the bank into two pieces. One person on the sidelines watching his legacy unravel: Sandy Weill, Citigroup's former chairman and chief executive, who built Citi into a sprawling empire based on the belief that "financial supermarkets" represented the future of banking. Except Weill is not on the sidelines, exactly. As Citigroup has unraveled these past few months and hovered on the brink of collapse, Weill has been watching the carnage unfold from one of the most spectacular offices in New York. Offices that Citigroup continues to pay for.

It's Official: Condé Nast Is Cutting Costs

cityfile · 01/15/09 12:24PM

A couple of weeks ago, the Post's Keith Kelly reported that execs at Condé Nast were growing increasingly concerned about the company's bloated Web budget. Well, it looks like they've figured out one way to trim costs: recycle content from other publications! Last fall, The Daily published a chart of famous fashion figures ideally suited to top jobs in the new administration. Today, Style.com published... a chart of famous fashion figures ideally suited to top jobs in the new administration. It's very nice to see that both The Daily and Style.com agree that Donna Karan should be Secretary of Health of Human Resources. She really would be a perfect fit. (We've always thought mandatory Kabbalah classes in public schools is just what this country needs right now.) The idea of Donatella Versace as Secretary of Defense (The Daily), or Karl Lagerfeld as Secretary of Transportation (Style.com)? Fortunately, both are foreign citizens, so you don't have to worry about those scenarios just yet.

Discount at 102 Charles Street

cityfile · 01/15/09 09:40AM

• The art gallery Plane Space has taken $1 million off the price of its townhouse at 102 Charles Street (left). The 5,760-square-foot space is now listed at $9.6 million. [Cityfile, PDE] (Update: This item originally listed the owner as Andrea Soros Colombel, the philanthropist daughter of George Soros. A rep for Ms. Soros tells us she no longer owns the townhouse, having sold it to Plane Space several years ago.)
• The longtime home of Baroness Jacqueline de Gunzburg, who passed away in September, has hit the market. The five-bedroom apartment at 960 Park Avenue has an asking price of $10.95 million. [Cityfile, Stribling]
• Wanna live in the same building as Jamie Dimon? Furniture designer Vladimir Kagan and his wife Erica Wilson have put their 3,840-square-foot co-op at 1185 Park Avenue on the market for $8.75 million. [NYP, Corcoran]

John Leguizamo Sells in Gramercy Park

cityfile · 01/15/09 08:08AM

It took close to a year, but John Leguizamo and his wife Justine have finally unloaded their four-bedroom apartment at 45 Gramercy Park North. The 11th-floor spread, which the couple purchased in 2004 and first listed in January 2008 for $5.85 million, was sold for $3.65 million to Samuel and Elizabeth White. Photos of the apartment and a floorplan after the jump!

Our Gift to Bernie's Victims!

cityfile · 01/14/09 11:08AM

Did Bernie Madoff steal your life savings or bankrupt your non-profit organization? Are you Mort Zuckerman or Steven Spielberg? We're here to help! If you happen to be a gun enthusiast—or you enjoy the occasional game of darts—we've created a Bernie "silhouette" for you to use the next time you head to the range or bar. You'll be pleased to hear that it conforms to the National Rifle Association's official standards for indoor/outdoor target practice. (Well, except for Bernie's head, which was our doing and hopefully won't lead any gun-toting members of the NRA to come after us.) And you can use the little scorecard in the corner to track your performance! Your anger will dissipate in no time! Click here for a larger picture of the silhouette, although if you're planning to actually use this at a gun range, you'll need to download a lifesize version, which you can do right here. Oh, and if you don't have a firearm or a gun license but you'd still like to take a shot at Bernie, give the West Side Rifle & Pistol Range a call. For $65, they'll let you shoot off 50 rounds under the watchful eye of an instructor. And they allow you to bring your own targets, too!

Wall Streeters Look for the Exits

cityfile · 01/13/09 08:29AM

• Guy Metcalfe isn't having much luck flipping the apartment at 15 CPW he purchased in October for $9.35 million. Two weeks after closing on the second-floor unit, the Morgan Stanley exec put the apartment on the market for $16.5 million, cutting it down to $13.75 million in December. Now Metcalfe is chopping again: The pad is currently listed at $12.5 million. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• Jason Capello, a partner until 2007 at Dwight Anderson's (now-doomed) hedge fund, Ospraie Management, has sold his 72nd-floor condo at the Time Warner Center for $16.25 million. [Cityfile]
• Hedge funder Steven Stuart, who left Fortress to co-found the Garrison Investment Group in 2007, has taken $1 million off the price of his 35th-floor apartment at the Park Laurel on West 63rd Street. The four-bedroom spread is now listed at $9.8 million. [Cityfile, Corcoran]

Guy Wildenstein Gets Desperate at the Plaza

cityfile · 01/12/09 12:43PM

This isn't the easiest time to sell an apartment at the Plaza what with all the bad press and lawsuits, but Guy Wildenstein is giving it his best shot. The president of Wildenstein Galleries (and ex-brother-in-law of Jocelyne) first put the 8,033-square-foot former Frank Lloyd Wright Suite on the market in September for $46.5 million, a few weeks before plunking down $32.5 million on William F. Reilly's 9,250-square-foot townhouse at 7 Sutton Square. Now, after languishing on the market for four months with broker Carrie Chiang, Wildenstein has slashed the price of his Plaza spread by $4.1 million. It's now down to the bargain basement price of $42.4 million. You can take a look at the floorplan after the jump.

Dear Buyer: Close the Deal or Else!

cityfile · 01/09/09 11:13AM

Something tells us we'll be seeing lots of lawsuits like this over the next few months. One Central Park West Property Limited, which controls the condo portion of the Trump International Hotel & Tower, has filed suit against a would-be buyer who agreed to buy a 29th-floor unit for $7.8 million, but backed out of the deal in December. A tanking real estate market isn't a justifiable reason for pulling out of a deal, of course, which may explain why the buyer, listed in court papers as Franpearl LLC, justified its decision by citing a sculpture, bar table, and coffee table that were mistakenly included on the condo's initial inventory list. The buyer initially requested, and was eventually granted, a $25,000 price cut because of the mix-up, but Franpearl later opted to abandon the purchase altogether. But because it's probably easier to just sue the buyer you thought you had rather than find a new prospect, 1CPW is now suing FranPearl and asking to not only keep its $780,000 deposit, but is asking a court to award damages, too. The full lawsuit after the jump.

The Madoff Sons Get Their Gifts After All

cityfile · 01/09/09 09:45AM

It's hard to imagine what life must be like right now for Andy and Mark Madoff, the sons of alleged scam artist Bernie Madoff. It's still unclear if the two had any role in helping their dad carry out the $50 billion fraud and if they'll eventually face legal charges. Their reputations have been decimated. Worst of all, they didn't get those Hanukkah gifts that their dad hoped to give them, expensive pieces of jewelry that were intercepted by the authorities (and may ultimately cost Bernie his freedom if a judge rules the gifts violated the conditions of his bail). They didn't get the cash that Bernie had hoped to give them either, the signed checks to friends and family discovered in Bernie's desk drawer when he was arrested. But, as always, we're here to help!

Padma On Your Cell

cityfile · 01/08/09 10:48AM

If you're a Top Chef fan—or the idea of having Padma Lakshmi list off a bunch of different foods every time your cell phone rings amuses you for some reason—this ringtone is for you! Click on Padma's pic to download the MP3. As we've mentioned before, you may need to do a little work to get the ringtone working on your phone. But we're sure the five minutes you spend sorting it out will be time well spent. Previous ringtones: Anna Wintour, Andre Leon Talley, Bernie Madoff.

Richard Prince and Larry Gagosian Slapped with Suit

cityfile · 01/07/09 10:52AM

Richard Prince's appropriation art has long been popular with big-name collectors, but there's at least one person seeing red over Prince's most recent works, which went on display at Larry Gagosian's gallery last month and are featured in a new book by Rizzoli. Photographer Patrick Cariou filed a lawsuit against Prince, Gagosian, and Rizzoli last week for using a number of his photographs in Prince's "Canal Zone" exhibition without his consent, pics that Cariou alleges first appeared in his 2000 book, Yes Rasta. Prince, of course, has spent decades using other images in his works. What's different this time around? Cariou says that in the past Prince has typically relied on "anonymous commercial imagery." This time, though, he took advantage of Cariou's hard work since the photos in question were derived from the "ten years he spent in the secluded mountains of Jamaica, gaining access to, living and working with, and earning the trust of the Rastafarians who are the subjects of Yes Rasta." There's one party, though, who we imagine is very happy to have avoided any further legal trouble: disgraced author James Frey, who penned the text in Prince's book, but isn't named in the lawsuit. You can review the full suit for yourself below.

Anna and André: Now On Your Cell!

cityfile · 01/07/09 09:30AM

When you woke up this morning, you never imagined that today would be the day when you'd be able to get rid of that boring ringtone on your cell phone and replace it with the voice of Ms. Anna Wintour herself, did you? Well, you're in luck! We're pleased to announce that the Vogue editor is now available in ringtone format (click on her photo to download), which features Anna dispensing populist fashion advice that you shouldn't take to heart for a moment. To balance the scales a bit, though, we've also created a more sensible André Leon Talley ringtone for you. Andre's wise advice and instructions on how to make these free ringtones work on your phone after the jump!

Introducing the Bernie Madoff Ringtone!

cityfile · 01/06/09 01:20PM

Bernie Madoff might not be able to leave his apartment, but now you can take him with you wherever you go! We're very happy to present you with the very first Bernie Madoff ringtone, which in a violation of everything Bernie holds dear, we're giving away for free. The ringtone features a few phrases from a talk Madoff gave in 2007, set, appropriately enough, to the theme music from the horror movie Halloween. As for how to actually turn this MP3 into your ringtone if you don't know how to do it, you should probably consult your cell phone manual or something. We have it working on a couple of Blackberrys—navigate your browser to this address, open the file, and save it your Blackberry and you'll see it appear in the directory of ringtones. It's a bit more complicated with iPhones, but here are instructions if you feel like giving it a shot. Oh, and we'll be giving away a few more ringtones in the next few days, so if you have suggestions, now would be a good time to let us know. [Bernie Madoff Ringtone - Download]