A Billion Dollars is No Joke

By PAULETTE GINDI

Billionaire developer Harry Macklowe walked up to his two lawyers sitting on a bench outside the courtroom during a break in in his ongoing divorce trial from his estranged wife Linda in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday.

He leaned in and whispered this joke to the attorneys Peter Bronstein and Dan Rottenstreich:
“There were two lawyers in a garden. Then a beautiful naked woman ran by. One lawyer goes, ‘I’d f… her.’ The second lawyer asks, ‘Out of what?’”

The three men were still laughing as they entered Justice Laura Drager’s courtroom.

The blue joke somehow resonated in the background of this sensational trial in which staggeringly expensive assets are being squabbled over and defendant and plaintiff each seem to want to outfox the other.

Macklowe’s wife Linda, 78, filed for a divorce in June 2016 after discovering that Macklowe was hiding a French mistress, Patricia Landeau, 62, in one of his Park Ave apartments for two years

Macklowe, 80, real estate mogul, is being sued for $1 billion by his estranged wife.

His defense? He’s broke and worth negative $400 million.

Her husband’s attorneys say that his famous 432 Park Ave building has one tenant.

John Feeney, an expert called to stand by John Tietler, Linda Macklowe’s attorney, testified that 432 Park Ave was in fact worth $2.4 billion as of June 2016.

Not only is Macklowe’s real estate on the line during this divorce, but so is the Macklowe’s $100 million apartment in The Plaza, $41 million yacht and a $600 million art collection.

The question remains: who will outfox whom?

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