EXCLUSIVE Leonardo Di Caprio has an unerring eye for hooking up with the wrong people.
Latest example: the NY Post reports he just had dinner at clubby, exclusive Rao’s in East Harlem with at least four hard core Republicans including two companions he should have stayed away from.
One is Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County Executive, a deeply right wing Republican who has turned back the hands of time on Long Island with anti-progressive, Trump era laws.
It’s the second dinner companion who is most egregious. That would be Andrew Murstein, who just paid a $4 million fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Murstein, his company Medallion Financial Corp, and another defendant were accused of “schemes to boost” their taxi company’s “plummeting” stock price including planting false stories in various publications including Crain’s New York and The Huffington Post.
Murstein agreed to the fine without admitting or denying his guilt. More on Murstein below.
The Post got a photo of Leo and Murstein together, and the Oscar winner is not smiling. Maybe that’s because Murstein is just the latest bad guy DiCaprio has been associated with in the last 25 years. The others include convicted (and now deceased) Ponzi scheme fraudster Dana Giacchetto, as well as convicted (in a massive gambling racket) art dealer Helly Nahmad.
And I told you in 2016 about Leo’s association with Julius Baer, the Swiss banker who had to pay $547 million to the Department of Justice.
And there was also the matter of Leo being involved in the Malaysian public fund scandal known as 1MDB. In that scandal, more than $4 billion was stolen from the 1MDB fund and spent by perpetrators on art, diamonds and property. Leo had to give back two paintings—a Picasso worth $3.2 million and a Basquiat worth $9 million.
Others at the Rao’s dinner included WABC Radio’s conservative morning radio personality Sid Rosenberg, former New York Republican appointee and sometime actor Bo Dietl, plus DiCaprio’s dad, George, and stepmother.
Is Leo moving to the right?
You can read all the charges against Murstein here.
According to the Post, the meeting had something to do with making Nassau County “Hollywood East,” as ridiculous an idea as anyone could dream up. If DiCaprio wants to invest in a movie studio operation, his buddy Robert DeNiro already owns Wildflower Studios, a new film and television production facility in Astoria, Queens. With Silvercup and Kaufman Astoria, New York is overloaded with this kind of business.
Blakeman, the first husband of Paul McCartney’s wife Nancy Shevell, is very unpopular in legit political circles. Newsday, the Long Island daily newspaper. has sued Blakeman and Nassau County, alleging retaliation for unfavorable coverage and violations of First Amendment rights. In February, local Democrats sued him for allegedly setting up a private militia. See also here.
You can’t make this stuff up. DiCaprio — who also has a mysterious $68 million 501 c 3 foundation called Re:Wild — is either followed by trouble or pursues it. No one seems to vet his companions. And he doesn’t seem to care who he’s seen in the company of.
