Jared Stern v. Ron Burkle: The Rematch

Gossip hound Jared Paul Stern seems determined to wring some cash out of Ron Burkle. A year ago, supermarket tycoon Burkle accused New York Post freelancer Stern of shaking him down for $220,000 in exchange for protection from Page Six, the Post's dishy gossip column, where Stern was a frequent contributor. The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office set up a sting but failed to assemble evidence proving extortion. Stern denied Burkle's accusation, but the Post cut him loose. According to Stern, Burkle had been trying set him up by offering to buy him off. Now Stern is suing Burkle, Burkle pal William Jefferson Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Post rival the New York Daily News, which covered the story with un-self-conscious glee. (Additional defendants are an "ex-secret service agent," a rival reporter, and a "disreputable private investigator.") For sample pages from Stern v. Burkle et al., see below and the following seven pages. (For the entire gossipy 27-page verified complaint, click here. For gossip about the complaint, click here and here.)

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The "Factual Allegations" of Stern's claim read like Page Six copy. "Burkle, a powerful, politically connected billionaire who … carries on sexual liaisons with fashion models, some of whom are under the age of consent, ... was concerned ... information about his acrimonious divorce would hamper his ability to ... engage in unsavory and illegal conduct with impunity" (Pages 2 and 3). Burkle tried to "entice, entrap, cajole, browbeat, trick or otherwise coerce" him "into making incriminating statements," and proposed "an investment" in Stern's fledgling prep-chic clothing company, Skull & Bones. But Stern "declined." Burkle then "decided to plant stories" (Page 5).

As his lawyer, Stern has enlisted perpetual litigant and veteran Clinton-hater Larry Klayman, which may account for paragraph 43 (Pages 7 and 8): "Defendant Clinton and his wife, Hillary Clinton … also have a reputation for using such smear tactics, as evidenced by … Monica Lewinsky, Whitewater, Filegate, Chinagate … that embroiled their administration in one scandal after another from 1992 to 2000."

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