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Greg Norman’s ex-wife: You stiffed me!

Norman (AP Photo)

Norman (AP Photo)

Double bogey for Jupiter Island golfer Greg Norman!

Not only is he dealing with his separation from new wife Chris Evert, the Boca Raton-based former tennis star, but now he’s got a ticked off ex-wife to deal with.

Palm Beacher Laura Andrassy says the Great White Shark stiffed her in his yearly payment of their divorce settlement.

She contends in new paperwork filed in the Martin County courthouse in Stuart that his $2 million wire transfer to her June 15 was about $72,000 short. She asked a judge to force Norman to pay up, or order arbitration.

According to their contract, the missus, a former flight attendant, will be $103 million richer by 2023 as a result of the agreement they signed when they were divorced two years ago.

So, what’s $72,000?

“It’s a substantial sum of money,” said Andrassy’s lawyer in West Palm Beach, Jack Scarola. “I have no desire to annoy Mr. Norman. But he has an obligation to meet his contractual commitments. If someone owes $72,000, just pay up.”

Andrassy, leaving a divorce hearing with lawyer Jack Scarola in 2007 (The Palm Beach Post archives)

Andrassy, leaving a divorce hearing with lawyer Jack Scarola in 2007 (The Palm Beach Post archives)

Norman’s divorce attorney, Jeff Fisher, declined comment. But in his response filed in court, Fisher wrote that Norman and his ex promised they’d seek arbitration for disputes instead of the court system.

Andrassy’s recent motion to enforce is nothing more than a “method to feed information (usually of a disparaging nature) about the former husband to the media.”

The $72,000 alleged shortfall, according to court papers, comes from the calculation of Andrassy’s share in Norman’s Colorado ranch, Seven Lakes Lodge. She’s supposed to get close to $780,000 a year for the ranch, but got much less.

Incidentally, Norman recently put the property on the market for $55 million.

The motion reopens the saga of golfer/vintner’s divorce, which was filed in June 2006 after Andrassy accused him of cheating on her with tennis champ Evert. Although Norman and Andrassy were officially divorced when he married Evert in June 2008, they’ve been ironing some of their differences since.

Laura Andrassy's attempt to collect $72,000 in her $103 million-divorce from Greg Norman is:

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Boca restaurateur Tony Bova lands in Scott Rothstein storm

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Boca Raton, Breaking News, Broward, Busted, Politicos, Scandals |
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| Thursday 5 November 2009 11:34 am Print This Post
Bova received the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Leader of the Year award in 2004 (Palm Beach Post archives)

Bova received the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Leader of the Year award in 2004 (Palm Beach Post archives)

The scandal that engulfed the well-known Fort Lauderdale law firm of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler has spilled into the Boca Raton restaurant biz.

Tony Bova, 58, a Boca resident and the high-profile owner of a string of area restaurants, counts disgraced attorney and political power broker Scott Rothstein among his partners in at least a half-dozen ventures.

And chief among those are Bova Ristorante, Bova’s pride and joy on Boca’s Federal Highway, and the chain Bova Restaurant Group.

Bova Ristorante, where older guys with slicked-back hair loved to hook up with women too young for them, mysteriously closed its doors shortly before Rothstein took off for North Africa last month.

And no one’s talking.

“Tony Bova has no comment at this point,” a spokeswoman said.

Bova’s association with Rothstein, who’s believed to be the principal in a $500 million Ponzi scheme and just returned to Florida to face the music, surprised observers.

“Tony was a very successful restaurant owner in his own right,” said Tom Prakas, a hospitality-business broker. “I don’t know why he needed Scott Rothstein.”

One strange thing regarding Bova and Rothstein is that their businesses last year spent more than $200,000 on political causes, mostly in a heated race across the Palm Beach County line.

For more, please look below or click (Read more…)

Palm Beach County Commish Steve Abrams law firm imploding; Founder Scott Rothstein MIA

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Boca Raton, Breaking News, Broward, Busted, Politicos |
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| Monday 2 November 2009 10:23 am Print This Post
Abrams

Palm Beach County Commissioner Steve Abrams

Rookie Palm Beach County Commissioner Steve Abrams was called to the Fort Lauderdale headquarters of his private employer, the law firm of Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler, for a 9 a.m. meeting today. The meeting is about the future of the 76-attorney company founded by the flamboyantly rich and politically connected Scott Rothstein.

Abrams is one of three attorneys at the firm’s Boca Raton offices. Hired 18 months ago, Abrams specialized in governmental law until he was picked by Gov. Charlie Crist to replace disgraced commissioner Mary McCarty on the commission.

“I’m just part-time now and I don’t do governmental law,” Abrams said. “I don’t know anything about what’s going on. I’m in a satellite office in Boca. We don’t hear anything.”

Abrams said he doesn’t know if he still has a job there. Several lawyers were recently laid off.

Rothstein, a tight buddy of Crist’s and other Republican heavy-hitters like U.S. Sen. John McCain, skipped town last week amid allegations that money borrowed from legal settlements was missing.

Rothstein was known to hire lawyers involved in politics, including Abrams, a former mayor of Boca Raton, and disgraced former Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne.

Idol’s Adam Lambert to Boca: Fang you very much!

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Belting it Out, Boca Raton, Parties |
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| Thursday 29 October 2009 12:57 pm Print This Post

lambert2

Looking like he was dressed by Anne Rice, American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert performed at the Boca Raton Resort over the weekend at the Party City Halloween Bash and Industry Awards. Seizing on the glampire fad, Lambert wore fangs to sing Johnny Cash’s classic Ring of Fire. Lambert was arguably the greatest runner-up ever on the Fox show. He lost to Kris Allen earlier this year.

lambert1

John Harris, who searched for Utopia, dies in Boca

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Boca Raton, Media, RIP |
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| Wednesday 28 October 2009 11:29 am Print This Post

Harris

Harris

John Harris‘ claim to fame always was that he went on one of the most colorful assignments in the Boca-based National Enquirer’s colorful history.

Straight from the desk of Enquirer owner Generoso Pope, Harris received a form spelling it out: “Is there really a Utopia left in this world? What’s it really like to live in Tahiti and those other pipe-dream paradises? Let’s . . . write a series of articles.”

Harris ended up spending the next four-and-a-half months circling the world on his search for Utopia.

Said Harris’ colleague at the time, Malcolm Balfour: “He didn’t find Utopia!”

Maybe, Harris finally did, 36 years later.

Harris was found dead at his home in Boca’s University Park neighborhood Oct. 9. His death certificate lists a heart attack and hardening of the arteries as the cause. He was 76.

A rare bird in the newsroom because he didn’t drink, chain-smoke or fudge quotes, Harris was hired by the Enquirer out of Cincinnati Post in Ohio.

“He was known as ‘Honest John,’” said Iain Calder, a former editor-in-chief. “He was the ultimate southern gentleman. And he did get the greatest assignment ever given to any reporter in any newspaper.”

Within months, Harris embarked on the trip that took him to dozens of exotic, at times unknown, locales. At first, it was the Mediterranean, off Greece and Spain, and the Channel and North Sea near England and Scotland. Then he moved on to Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Fiji, Samoa, Molokai, Bali, Sri Lanka, the Seychelles, Mauritius, and many more.

Thing is, every time Harris thought he’d found something close to Utopia, Pope at home shot him down. Tahiti? No good. There was a rush hour and parking meters in the capital. Bora Bora? Too many hotels. American Samoa? Too dirty.

At one point, Harris is said to have called in he discovered Utopia, in the Western Samoa. But when Pope found out there were phones, it was decided that Utopia shouldn’t have phones, and Harris was ordered back to Lantana. He’d spent well over $100,000.

“Well, they did hire him because he’d do anything he was told, anything at all, with no questions asked,” Balfour said. “He was perfect for that assignment. Even if no story was ever published.”

“Utopia may be more a state of mind than a physical place,” Harris later wrote. “I found my Utopia when I got that around-the-world, all-expense-paid, assignment to search for it.”

Harris will be buried Saturday in his hometown of Morganton, N.C. He was divorced and had two step children.

Greg Norman not listed for Chris Evert’s charity; replaced by ‘Burn Notice’ hunk

Norman and Evert at last year's event (Alan Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post)

Greg Norman and Chris Evert at last year's event (Alan Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post)

Aussie golf legend Greg Norman’s name was quietly dropped from the list of the stars scheduled to appear at the Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic next week.

As Evert’s husband of a little more than a year, the Great White Shark was a lock for the 20th annual Delray Beach/Boca Raton fundraiser. But now that Norman and Evert are splitsville, the lineup for the Nov. 7-8 tournament was altered.

With Norman out, the prettier, and younger, actor Jeffrey Donovan is in. He’ll play tennis at the Delray Beach Tennis Center and should walk the red carpet at the black-tie gala at the Boca Raton Resort.

Donovan, on the set of Burn Notice (Courtesy USA Network)

Jeffrey Donovan, on the set of Burn Notice (Courtesy USA Network)

It’ll be a first appearance at Evert’s wingding for Donovan, the star of USA Network’s Miami-based Burn Notice. His previous first appearance was in a Miami court in July. DUI!

The pros, ex-pros and wannabe pros enrolled: former tennis great Martina Navratilova, Navratilova’s doubles partner Pam Shriver, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles, Justin Gimelstob and Vince Spadea. The show biz celebs: actress Elisabeth Shue; comic Jon Lovitz; reality TV stars Bruce and Kris Jenner (Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian’s mom and her Olympic hero husband); rocker Gavin Rossdale; and Today host Matt Lauer.

The popular Norman, after all, may not be missed.

“It’s one of the freshest lineups in years,” said event publicist Tip Nunn. “Among the tennis players, you have four former women’s No. 1 players. And there are several new names on the entertainers’ side. Donovan and the Jenners have never been here before. And it’s been years since we saw Matt Lauer.”

Should Greg Norman go to Chris Evert's fundraiser for children charities?

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Vampires rule Boca’s pre-Halloween wingding

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Boca Raton, Busted, Cash, Hookups, Hotties, Parties, Photo Gallery, Politicos |
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| Monday 26 October 2009 10:27 am Print This Post
Love at first bite? (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

Love at first bite? (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

It was Beetlejuice meets high society at Saturday night’s pre-Halloween party in Boca Raton, on the $4.5 million Intracoastal property of shoe king Bob Campbell. One popular guest: The fresh-out-of-prison, tax evading land baron Jim Batmasian, who looked like a poor man’s version of Dracula. More than 200 people paid $175-a-head to visit the Love at First Bite soiree, and bought auction items to benefit The ARC of Palm Beach County. The non-profit is dedicated to improving the lives of people with disabilities. The party kicked off a wild Halloween week in Palm Beach County. The big one is Friday at West Palm Beach’s Ann Norton Sculpture Garden, where the Gentlemen of the Garden hold their yearly Devil’s Night. Until then, check below for the Page2Live gallery of Campbell’s spooky party, by Michele Sandberg:

Picture 1 of 60

Lambiet’s Lunch: Celeb chef Todd English expands; Model Stephanie Seymour breaks into own Palm Beach home

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Boca Raton, Catfights, Hotties, Island’s Finest, Splitsville, Stars, West Palm Beach |
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| Tuesday 20 October 2009 12:40 pm Print This Post
English and Wang in happier times (Courtesy New York Post)

Todd English and Erica Wang in happier times (Courtesy New York Post)

– Celebrity chef Todd English won’t let a minor inconvenience like his ex-fiancee’s arrest stand in the way of his empire’s expansion in South Florida. Suddenly BFFs English and food entrepreneur Lirim Jacobi (founder of the Taverna Opa party chain) are opening a branch of Olives, English’s signature restaurant, at the old Opus 5 in Boca Raton, according to the local foodie Web site jannorris.com. The new Olives should be open in Boca Center by the end of November. Jacobi and English are also working on Wild Olives, another new joint located at CityPlace in West Palm Beach. The gossip rags, however, is where the particularly photogenic English, 49, has been dwelling recently. He was to have married employee Erica Wang at the St. Regis in NYC. But the runaway groom called her from an appearance at the CityPlace Taverna Opa to tell her it just didn’t feel right. They called it off. Last week, Wang was arrested for throwing a watch at the chef in a fight.

Seymour and Brant in Wellington (The Palm Beach Post)

Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant in Wellington (The Palm Beach Post)

– The divorce of part-time Palm Beachers Stephanie Seymour, the former super model, and her newsprint mogul polo-playing hubby, Peter Brant, is getting more venomous by the day. The two, who co-own a $5.5 million weekend home on Dunbar Road, have been duking it out since May in a Connecticut court. Now, Brant is claiming in paperwork obtained by the New York Post that Seymour secretly traveled to Palm Beach on a day she was supposed to be with their kids last week, and “broke into” their home. She supposedly took $700,000 worth of stuff. Broke in? According to county records, Seymour’s name is on the deed.

Chris Evert served lawsuit over Boca crash

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Boca Raton, Jocks, Stars, crash |
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| Monday 19 October 2009 10:51 am Print This Post
McKnought-Smith

Surfer dude Miles McKnought-Smith is suing over a broken foot.

Boca tennis legend Chris Evert’s crumbling marriage to golf giant Greg Norman isn’t the only thing that’s occupying her time these days.

Evert is being sued in a Palm Beach County civil court by a friend of her children injured in an outing near Evert’s Boca Raton home.

According to Miami lawyer John Agnetti, several students from the chi-chi St. Andrews School in Boca, including two of Evert’s boys, were riding a golf cart and a dirt bike when a crash occurred.

Agnetti’s client, Pompano youth Miles McKnought-Smith, sustained a broken foot and sued.

“It seems that Ms. Evert’s home became a hangout with school children,” Agnetti said. “She has a lot of toys, and there wasn’t much adult supervision.”

Agnetti said he believes Evert wasn’t at home when the crash occurred.

Well-known area businessman Al Malnik, who made news in the aftermath of singer Michael Jackson’s death, is also named in the lawsuit. He is the godfather of Jackson’s youngest son, Blanket, and owns a property near Evert’s 5-acre, $2 million homestead in Horseshoe Acres, Boca Raton.

“It’s the craziest thing,” Malnik said. “I have a fence all around my property and nobody had permission to be there.”

Yet, said Malnik, his land is where the dirt-biking, 19-year-old McKnought-Smith somehow had an extra-close encounter with a golf cart allegedly operated by a minor, Ryan Logan, according to the paperwork.

Evert’s boys were also present, and both vehicles are owned by the multi-Grand Slam champion.

“It’s a little awkward for my client since all the kids are friends from school,” Agnetti said.

Before the incident, Agnetti said, McKnought-Smith was a rising star on the pro surfing circuit under a sponsorship contract and routinely ranked nationally in the top five. He’s now fallen off the rankings.

The defendants’ attorney, West Palm Beach’s David Bradley, said Evert asked him not to comment.

This lawsuit:

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Nick Loeb drops out of Senate race, cites divorce

Posted by Jose Lambiet | Boca Raton, Breaking News, Hotties, Politicos, Splitsville |
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| Tuesday 13 October 2009 3:24 pm Print This Post
The Loebs (Courtesy NickLoeb.com)

The Loebs (Courtesy NickLoeb.com)

Florida Senate hopeful Nick Loeb dropped out of the District 25 race a day after Page2Live reported that his Swedish wife had filed for divorce.

Loeb tells The Palm Beach Post’s George Bennett that he’ll personally reimburse donors who contributed a total of more than $100,000 to his campaign.

He also tells Bennett that wife Anna Loeb ran into an old boyfriend in Sweden this summer and rekindled with that dude.

She filed for divorce Oct. 2, just weeks after getting picked up for DUI.

“I wish things could be different,” Loeb said.

For more, click here.

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