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Associated Press
28-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
NYC Socialite Turns Author in Scandalous New Summer Beach Read: Park Avenue Firesale
From cocktail parties to courtrooms, four women face the fallout of love, lies, and luxury in this summer's most addictive read 'For me, writing this book was a healing experience. Some women go to therapy- I wrote a novel.'— Michele Wood NEW YORK CITY, NY, UNITED STATES, May 28, 2025 / / -- With Memorial Day behind us and summer officially underway, Park Avenue Firesale is catching fire as the must-have beach read of the season. From the glittering streets of Manhattan to the sun-soaked shores of the Hamptons, debut author Michele Wood, NYC socialite and luxury insider, debuts a sizzling, sharply observed social satire about four women facing public scandal, private betrayal, and the kind of downfall New York society loves to read about. The book follows these high-powered women, each at the top of their game, whose lives are suddenly upended by financial collapse, political scandal, and romantic betrayal. But these women don't stay down for long. With relationships tested, secrets exposed, and new identities forged, Park Avenue Firesale is a story about survival, friendship, the art of reinvention, and the seductive chaos of life inside New York's elite circles. 'It's not autobiographical. It's what happens when your world cracks open, and instead of running, I wrote,' says Wood. 'I researched, fantasized, and built these women as a form of catharsis. For me, writing this book was a healing experience. Some women go to therapy- I wrote a novel.' A long-time New Yorker and philanthropist, Michele has rebuilt her life as an entrepreneur in real estate, design, and fine wine. Her debut novel is the product of years of writing, late nights, emotional truths, and a desire to entertain and empower. The book launch features collaborations with luxury perfume house Veronique Gabai, including events at Bergdorf Goodman and Printemps in NYC. Available now via Amazon Follow the soft launch on Instagram @parkavenuefiresale Michele Wood Park Avenue Firesale email us here Visit us on social media: Instagram Other Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Hindustan Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Trump grants pardon to tax fraudster after mother attended $1 million fundraiser
US President Donald Trump recently granted a full pardon to Paul Walczak, a nursing home executive who was convicted of tax fraud. The decision soon sparked a controversy as the pardon came just weeks after Walczak's mother -- a major Trump fundraiser -- attended a $1 million-a-head dinner promising personal access to Trump. 55-year-old Walczak was sentenced to 18 months in prison and was ordered to pay nearly $4.4 million in restitution just 12 days before the pardon was issued. According to the prosecutors, Paul had siphoned off millions in employee payroll taxes to fund a lavish lifestyle, including the purchase of a $2 million yacht and shopping sprees at luxury retailers like Cartier and Bergdorf Goodman. A federal judge in the case at the time justified the incarceration by declaring that there 'is not a get-out-of-jail-free card' for the rich. Paul Walczak, a nursing home executive, was a college dropout and joined his mother, Elizabeth Fago's nursing home business, eventually becoming CEO. After the business was sold in 2007, the pair launched a new venture in South Florida. However, by 2011, according to prosecutors, Walczak had stopped paying the required employment taxes, as reported by The Washington Post. From 2016 to 2019, he withheld more than $10 million in payroll taxes, meant for employee benefits like Social Security and Medicare. However, he allegedly used the money for personal luxury spending. He was charged with 13 counts of tax crimes in 2023, eventually pleading guilty to two in November 2024, just days after Trump won the presidency for a second time. Walczak's hope for clemency allegedly rested heavily on his mother's deep ties to Trump's political sphere. His mother, Elizabeth Fago, has long been a loyal Trump donor and operative, hosting multiple fundraisers for him and other Republicans. Fago also highlighted her connections to an effort to sabotage Joseph R Biden Jr's 2020 campaign by publicising the addiction diary of his daughter, Ashley Biden — an episode that drew law enforcement scrutiny, the Washington Post reported. Walczak, in his pardon plea, which was filed soon after Trump's inauguration, cited not only his cooperation and remorse but suggested that the prosecution was politically motivated. He said Paul's punishment was for his mother's loyalty to Trump. Despite an initial delay, the tide turned after Fago attended a $1 million exclusive Mar-a-Lago fundraiser last month. Less than three weeks after the event, Trump signed Walczak's pardon.
Boston Globe
27-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Trump pardoned tax cheat after mother attended $1 million dinner
Walczak's pardon application argued that his criminal prosecution was motivated more by his mother's efforts for Trump than by his admitted use of money earmarked for employees' taxes to fund an extravagant lifestyle. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Still, weeks went by, and no pardon was forthcoming, even as Trump issued clemency grants to hundreds of other allies. Advertisement Then, Fago was invited to a $1-million-per-person fundraising dinner last month that promised face-to-face access to Trump at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. Less than three weeks after she attended the dinner, Trump signed a full and unconditional pardon. It came just in the nick of time for Walczak, sparing him from having to pay nearly $4.4 million in restitution and from reporting to prison for an 18-month sentence that had been handed down just 12 days earlier. A judge had justified the incarceration by declaring that there 'is not a get-out-of-jail-free card' for the rich. Advertisement The pardon, however, indicated otherwise. The case of Fago and Walczak is the latest example of the president's willingness to use his clemency powers to reward allies who advance his political causes and to punish his enemies. Walczak's pardon application was described to The New York Times by a person who received it but was not authorized to share. Fago, Walczak and his lawyer did not respond to questions. A White House official echoed the framing in Walczak's application, asserting in a statement to the Times that he was 'targeted by the Biden administration over his family's conservative politics.' A $2 million yacht Walczak, 55, joined his mother's nursing home business after dropping out of college, eventually becoming CEO. After she sold the company in 2007, they invested $18 million in a new nursing home venture based in South Florida, where they lived a luxurious lifestyle. By 2011, prosecutors said, Walczak had stopped paying employment taxes. Between 2016 and 2019, they said, he withheld more than $10 million from the paychecks of the nurses, doctors and others who worked at his facilities under the pretext of using it for their Social Security, Medicare and federal income taxes. Instead, he used some of the money to buy a $2 million yacht and to pay for travel and purchases at high-end retailers, including Bergdorf Goodman and Cartier, prosecutors said. He was charged in February 2023 with 13 counts of tax crimes. By the time he pleaded guilty to two of the counts and agreed to pay the restitution Nov. 15, 2024, Trump had been elected for a second term in the White House. The family had reason to believe the incoming president might look fondly on a pardon application. Advertisement Fago, 74, had helped host at least three fundraisers for Trump's campaigns. She and her son Joey Fago (Walczak's half brother) and his wife attended VIP events at Trump's 2017 and 2025 inaugurations, according to social media posts, including one in which she was shown posing with Trump. An 'unbelievable' diary During Trump's 2020 reelection campaign, Fago tried to help the candidate in other ways. Ashley Biden had left her diary and other belongings in a house where she had been staying in Delray Beach, Florida, when she moved to Philadelphia during the campaign, telling a friend that she planned to return to retrieve the belongings later. A woman who moved in, Aimee Harris, discovered the diary and enlisted Robert Kurlander, a longtime friend and former housemate, to help sell it. Aimee Harris, right, who discovered Ashley BidenÕs diary and other belongings at a home in Florida, leaves Federal District Court in Manhattan, Aug. 25, 2022. JEFFERSON SIEGEL/NYT Kurlander contacted Fago. When she was first told of the diary, she said she thought it would help Trump's chances of winning the election, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the matter. Kurlander and Harris brought Biden's diary to a September 2020 fundraiser at Fago's home in the exclusive Admirals Cove community of Jupiter, Florida. The featured guests were Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. and the younger Trump's girlfriend at the time, Kimberly Guilfoyle. At the fundraiser, the diary was shown to Caroline Wren, a campaign finance consultant who helped organize the event. 'So I go back there, I start reading through it, and there was just unbelievable stuff,' Wren recalled last year on a podcast. 'I contacted the campaign attorneys, and then that campaign attorneys said, 'Be very careful; don't take possession of this.' They wrote up a whole memo, and then they contacted the FBI and said, 'You need to come pick this up immediately.'' Advertisement Robert Kurlander leaves Federal District Court in Manhattan, Aug. 25, 2022. JEFFERSON SIEGEL/NYT The FBI did not retrieve the diary. Instead, Kurlander and Harris entered negotiations to provide it to Project Veritas, a Trump-allied undercover media group that had been tipped to the diary's existence by Stephanie Walczak, Fago's daughter. The Justice Department during Trump's first term opened an investigation into the matter after a representative of the Biden family reported to federal authorities before the 2020 election that several of Ashley Biden's personal items had been stolen in a burglary. Fago and other family members spent election night 2020 at a White House watch party. After Trump lost, they were invited back the next month to attend a White House Christmas party. During his final weeks in office, Fago was among a slew of loyalists tapped by Trump for appointment to government boards and commissions. She resisted an effort by the Biden administration to rescind her appointment to the National Cancer Advisory Board, according to her son's pardon application, which said that she told a board representative that Biden did not have the right to remove her. The scrutiny of the diary matter continued when Biden took office. In November 2021, investigators obtained a search warrant related to a Project Veritas official that sought information about 'potential co-conspirators,' including communications with Fago, Walczak, Kurlander, Harris and others 'about obtaining, transporting, transferring, disseminating or otherwise disposing of Ashley Biden's stolen property.' Kurlander and Harris would later plead guilty, admitting to conspiring to steal, transport and sell the diary to Project Veritas. Harris was sentenced to one month in prison. Kurlander is scheduled to be sentenced next month. Advertisement A new hope When Trump won the presidency for a second time, it offered hope to Project Veritas, Fago and Walczak. In January, with Trump preparing to move back into the White House, Fago and her family traveled to Washington for the inauguration. They got VIP access to the Trump victory rally at Capital One Arena in Washington. On Feb. 5, Trump's Justice Department said it was closing the investigation into the diary. Fago and Walczak were not charged, nor was anyone from Project Veritas. In the meantime, a pardon application was submitted on Walczak's behalf. It suggested that Donald Trump Jr., as well as Guilfoyle and other Trump allies, supported his clemency. They all agreed, according to the application, that the only reason Walczak was prosecuted criminally was that he was the son of a prominent Trump supporter. Guilfoyle declined to comment. Trump did not respond to a request for comment. The application cited Biden's justification for issuing a sweeping pardon to his son Hunter Biden for tax and gun crimes in December. The elder Biden had claimed in a statement that Hunter 'was singled out only because he is my son.' As Fago and Walczak awaited word on the pardon, she was invited to the Mar-a-Lago fundraiser with Trump. An invitation billed it as an intimate 'candlelight dinner' with 'very limited' space available to people who paid $1 million each. It was sponsored by MAGA Inc., a political action committee that can accept unlimited donations to support candidates and causes backed by Trump. The ask was far more than her previous largest federal donation on record — $100,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2002 — and dwarfed the more than $12,000 she had directly donated to Trump's presidential campaign committees. Advertisement Two people briefed on the candlelight dinner said that Fago attended. It is not clear whether she donated to MAGA Inc. or how much. Representatives for MAGA Inc. did not respond to questions. The group has until the end of July to disclose the identities of donors from the first half of this year, which will most likely include those who paid to attend the dinner. In a brief interview, Joey Fago downplayed the significance of his mother's connection to the diary saga. 'There was like hundreds of pardons,' he said. 'I'm sure there's plenty of other people you can write about.' The White House official cited the Biden administration's effort to oust Fago from the cancer board as evidence of the political motivations that contributed to Trump's decision to issue the pardon. After Walczak was pardoned in the tax case, he celebrated with his mother and family while wearing a red Trump-style hat reading 'Make Paul Great Again,' according to a social media post capturing the celebration. In the post, Joey Fago wrote, 'What God has ahead of you, is greater than what is behind you,' along with the hashtag 'MAGA.' This article originally appeared in .
Forbes
11-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Jeweler Margot McKinney Opens Her First U.S. Boutique In Beverly Hills
The entrance to the new Margot McKinney boutique in the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel Margot McKinney opened her first boutique in the United States in the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel. It is a continuation of the expansion for the Australian high jewelry brand in the U.S. and other markets. In February McKinney opened a pop-up space in Bergdorf-Goodman. In May she participated in the prestigious TEFAF Maastricht international art, design and antiques fair in The Netherlands. While McKinney has been more visible the past year or two, the fourth-generation jeweler is a familiar name in rarified circles that value high jewelry. Her impressive jewels, charitable contributions, and her overall personality and charm has earned her a United Kingdom royal 'Order of Merit,' recognizing her distinguished service in art and the promotion of culture. In the U.S., her jewels have been in several Neiman Marcus stores and at Bergdorf Goodman since 2007. The new Margot McKinney boutique features leopard print chairs, an antique desk with a restored ... More leather writing surface in sky blue, and a wall finished in teal chinoiserie-inspired wallpaper with botanical and exotic bird motifs The Beverly Hills boutique is also McKinney's first outside her flagship boutique, called 'The Green Door,' in her home of Queensland, Australia. McKinney said her recent outreach has created strong growth for her high jewelry creations and increased opportunities to expand. 'It is a thrill to be opening my first independent Margot McKinney store outside of Australia, and an honor for it to be located within the incomparable Peninsula Beverly Hills,' McKinney said in a statement. 'This is a milestone moment in the 141-year history of the McKinney family business, and I could not have asked for a more fitting environment to showcase my jewelry to a whole new group of collectors.' Margot McKinney's new boutique has the brand's signature 'Kelly Green' gloss lacquer and a ... More gold-colored ceiling dome The interior is presented in her signature 'Kelly Green" gloss lacquer on the cabinetry and trim with an eclectic curation of antique and contemporary furniture and fittings. A recessed ceiling dome highlighted in gold presides over an area furnished with leopard print chairs, an antique desk with a restored leather writing surface in sky blue, discreet wall-mounted lamps with mirrored sconces, and a wall finished in teal chinoiserie-inspired wallpaper with botanical and exotic bird motifs. McKinney also noted that the new boutique also complements 'the Peninsula's elegant style allure.' Several of McKinney's most important one-of-a-kind creations will be in the boutique, including the Marina collier, created by McKinney for her debut at TEFAF Maastricht. It features a massive 241.14-carat cushion-cut green beryl and a large baroque pearl suspended from a 65.72-carat aquamarine. If that's not enough, the elaborate, colorful jewel boasts an arrangement of green tourmaline, small diamonds, rare baroque South Sea pearls, sapphires, aquamarines, Paraiba tourmalines and tsavorites. A sampling of the bold, colorful gem-centric jewels in the new Margot McKinney boutique. McKinney is known for her classic jewelry creation made with spectacular gems and pearls from Australia and other parts of the world. Her pearl jewels are especially noteworthy. All her pieces are made with South Sea pearls, considered by many to be the world's most coveted pearls. The pearls all come from a single source as each year McKinney buys the entire inventory from pearl farmer, Aji Ellies Wimilirantna. Her bold, colorful creations also use Australian opals, and exquisite gemstones including diamonds, sapphires and tanzanites. McKinney says the pieces in the new boutique provide an introduction to the breadth of her creations for those previously unfamiliar with her work. The new Margot McKinney store will be open seven days per week at The Peninsula Beverly Hills.
New York Times
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Shah Rukh Khan, and His Jeweled Tiger's Head, Make Their Met Debut
'I've never been nervous like this,'' Shah Rukh Khan said on the afternoon before the Met Gala, where on Monday evening the Indian superstar will make his first-ever red carpet appearance at what is generally considered the party of the year. 'I'm wondering if I can run away from this now,'' added a man whose onscreen derring-do is the stuff of cinematic legend; a multi-hyphenate whose many ventures have earned him a net worth estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars and a made him a figure greatly beloved of, and elevated to cult status by, generations of fans. 'I'm actually very shy,'' said Shah Rukh Khan, whose legions of devotees know him simply as SRK. The actor, in town from Mumbai, was seated on a sofa in a suite high above Manhattan. Far below was spread the pointillist green carpet of Central Park. Tapping a Terea tobacco stick into an heated induction device, Mr. Khan discreetly took a drag. After chain-smoking cigarettes for decades, he quit very publicly on his 59th birthday in 2024. His decision to stop, like nearly everything else he does, was covered in the South Asian press with the kind of attention typically devoted to matters of state. The man behind the Shah Rukh Khan legend is surprisingly modest in person. This is true also in a physical sense. Slender and slight of build, Mr. Khan was dressed in a pair of Rick Owens cargo jeans, Rick Owens sneakers, a Rick Owens hoodie unzipped deeply enough to reveal his smooth and chiseled chest and an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph watch. While Shah Rukh Khan is not, as he quickly noted, a fashion devotee, he spent one day of his 72-hour sojourn in New York for the Met Gala prowling the aisles at Saks and Bergdorf Goodman, hunting down 'the perfect pair' of jeans. 'I'm a jeans-and-T-shirt person,'' said Mr. Khan, whose first clothing purchase — made when he was still attending St. Columba's, a private boy's school in New Delhi — was a pair of five-pocket denims from a shop called Junction Jeans. Mr. Khan will be dressed in starkly simple fashion for the Met Gala by one of India's top designers, Sabyasachi Mukherjee. 'The only thing he said was, 'I don't want to wear shoulder pads that make me look like an airplane,''' said Mr. Mukherjee, whose designs are better known for their elaborate ornamentation than experimental silhouettes. For his very brief turn on the red carpet (he flies back to India to resume filming the night of the party), Mr. Khan will offer his own interpretation of the theme on an evening celebrating Black male style and dandyism, a quality celebrated for millenniums in India. 'He dresses simply and we respected that,'' said Mr. Mukherjee, who designed for the superstar a quilted court jacket in Murshidabad silk resembling a Moghul-inspired sherwani, black quilted trousers, and a black crepe de Chine shirt open to reveal a cluster of chains and jewels that include a large letter K in diamonds. He will also be carrying a walking stick with a jeweled tiger's head. 'It's a bit rapper,'' Mr. Khan said of the bling, adding that this first-ever Met Gala red carpet might also be his last. 'I know so many people in the fashion industry, but it's really not my world,' he added, noting that his snap decision to accept Mr. Mukherjee's invitation to the gala was partly influenced by a desire to counter some of the more pernicious stereotypes about South Asian actors. 'The West still sees and casts you as this exotic, the Peter Sellers 'Birdie Num Num' type,' said Mr. Khan. It is probably worth noting that, despite his having nearly 50 million Instagram followers and a vast global fan base, he has yet to appear in a Hollywood film. 'I'm not being modest when I say I have no idea of the stardom I have,'' said Mr. Khan, referring to himself as 'an employee of the myth.'' That is not to suggest he is unaware of the potency a single red carpet snapshot of him walking this particular red carpet could have. 'While I'm acting all the time, it would be strange, or unacceptable, to play a role on the red carpet,'' said Mr. Khan, who is long past needing to promote anything or impersonate anyone. For this particular Monday night in May, then, Shah Rukh Khan plays himself.
