Jared Paul Stern

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Jared Paul Stern is a freelance reporter and former columnist for the New York Post who gained national notoriety when he was accused by California billionaire Ron Burkle of extortion. Prior to the scandal, Stern had written for the popular "Page Six" column from time to time for eleven years.[1] He edited the first issue of Page Six magazine, and also wrote the New York Post column "Nightcrawler" for several years. He worked briefly at Star Magazine. He currently writes posts for luxury blog Luxist.

Stern is a 1994 graduate of Bennington College, where he studied literature. He was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Canada. Stern often wears dated clothing items such as a fedora or monocle in public.

[edit] Burkle scandal

In April 2006, supermarket magnate and Democratic fundraiser Ron Burkle released six minutes of videotape of two face-to-face meetings he had had with Stern the previous month.[2] In the sections made available to the media, Stern appears to try to extort $220,000 from Burkle in exchange for "protection" from inaccurate reporting about the billionaire in Stern's gossip columns. Burkle has also released copies of e-mails from Stern in which Stern inquires about the status of expected payments. Burkle had previously complained about erroneous stories about himself in the Post to Rupert Murdoch, his neighbor and owner of the newspaper, in a personal letter. Murdoch never responded.

Stern claims in a series of published interviews that he had been "set up" by Burkle, and was only in meetings with him to discuss a possible investment in his clothing company, Skull & Bones.

The Post suspended Stern when the video clips were made public, and fired him on April 21, 2006.[2].

Criminal charges have not been filed against Stern; federal prosecutors handed the case to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, who declined to prosecute.[3][4]

In October, 2006, an unnamed source leaked to the press that Stern had landed a contract with Simon & Schuster to publish a book, tentatively to be called Stern Measures, about the Post, its gossip pages, and various scandals with which he is familiar.[5]. However, on August 7, 2007, Gawker.com reported that the book deal had been cancelled.[6]

In January 2007, the Associated Press ran a story saying that the federal investigation into Stern had been dropped. Stern announced plans to sue Burkle[4], and subsequently filed a civil lawsuit against not only Burkle, but also Frank Renzi, Michael Sitrick, William Sherman, The New York Daily News, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton. Stern claims libel, emotional distress, interference in business relationship, injurious falsehood, abuse of process, and civil conspiracy.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Gossip Scandal Altering Tabloid," Ellen Barry, Los Angeles Times, April 22, 2006, p.A4
  2. ^ a b "Post Cans Four Gossip Scribes," William Sherman, New York Daily News, April 21, 2006
  3. ^ "He Quits Page Six Mess - Post-Haste," William Sherman and Leo Standora, New York Daily News, August 10, 2006
  4. ^ a b "Ex-Post Keyholer Says He’s Cleared on Extortion Rap," Choire Sicha, New York Observer, January 29, 2007
  5. ^ "N.Y. Post's Gossip Guru Lands Book Contract," Los Angeles Times, October 23, 2006, p.e10
  6. ^ "Jared Paul Stern's Book Has Been Cancelled", Gawker.com, August 7, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-08
  7. ^ "Jared Paul Stern, Best Defendants Ever," Gawker.com, March 22, 2007

[edit] External links