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They've bickered over whether she knew he was gay, whose tell-all book would sell better, whether a poster of a nude man hanging over his new lover's bed had to come down before she'd allow their 6-year-old to visit. Divorce has been exceptionally bitter for former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey and his wife, Dina Matos McGreevey. Unless they can resolve the custody and money issues that have arisen since their acrimonious parting, the state's estranged former first couple is heading for a May trial. Celebrity divorce lawyer Raoul Felder, whose list of clients includes exes of Mike Tyson and...

This week, Dina Matos McGreevey filed court papers accusing former Gov. Jim "I am a gay American" McGreevey of extreme cruelty, fraud and libel, for concealing his homosexuality in order to marry her. And so the McGreevey saga continues. I'd say "only in America," but I suspect this is a story that could happen only in New Jersey. Imagine: You are the governor of New Jersey and (by your own account) you're having sex with a young man behind your wife's back. The young man in question describes it as nonconsensual sexual harassment, but never mind. The feds are closing...

TRENTON, N.J. - The man former New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey identified as his gay lover said Thursday he believes McGreevey is not gay. Appearing on "Larry King Live," Golan Cipel, an Israeli citizen hired by McGreevey first as a campaign aide and later as his homeland security adviser, said that McGreevey's 2004 resignation speech admission that he is "a gay American" was "part of the spin." Through lawyers, Cipel had threatened to sue McGreevey for sexual harassment shortly before and after McGreevey's resignation. A lawsuit was never filed. "I think McGreevey had no choice. There was a sexual...

Here's my Confession: Last week, I actually wondered if I was being too hard on former Gov. Jim McGreevey, the lying, cheating, sleaze hawking a new book claiming he's a changed man. But then I spent the weekend reading an increasingly sickening war of words between McGreevey and his supposed former lover, Golan Cipel. Now, the most charitable thing to say about the disgraced leader is that he's lucky he wasn't investigated for attempted rape - and luckier today's much-hyped Oprah appearance is not live, but taped. Leave it to McGreevey to usher in a new low for sexual politics:...

Cipel: McGreevey assaulted me The onetime aide said he wanted to clear the record: The former governor made an advance he rejected. By John Shiffman Inquirer Staff Writer In his new book, Jim McGreevey vividly recalls his first, magical kiss with Golan Cipel. Cipel does not remember the 2001 encounter so fondly. The former aide calls it a failed sexual assault that followed shots of Jagermeister. After he pushed New Jersey's governor away, Cipel said, he asked McGreevey why he assumed he was gay. "And McGreevey said, 'Everybody is a little gay,' " Cipel recalled yesterday in his first extended...

In his highly anticipated memoir, former Gov. James E. McGreevey writes of his deep love for the man who ended his political career, the destruction of his second marriage and the events that forced him into his stunning admission on national television that he is gay. In "The Confession," the former governor also touches on New Jersey's sometimes seamy political landscape, where cash, cronyism and a handful of powerful men intersect. But the 384-page book focuses mostly on McGreevey's secret life, from his frequent sexual encounters with men at highway rest stops to his infatuation with Golan Cipel, the Israeli...

Charles Kushner, the Port Authority commissioner who is New Jersey Governor James McGreevey’s choice to be the agency’s next chairman, may soon find the dreaded appellation "embattled" attached to his name. Mr. Kushner is facing a whistle-blower lawsuit that could jeopardize his appointment to head the Port Authority—an appointment he doubtless helped to secure through generous contributions to New Jersey Democrats. He was the single largest donor to Mr. McGreevey’s campaign fund last year; to Hillary Clinton’s in 2000 and 2001; and to Senator Robert Torricelli’s in 1999 and 2001. Kushner companies collectively provided the largest bundle of contributions to...

Charles Kushner chief fund raiser to disgraced former NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey, is being given a "get out of jail early" card by confessing that he is an alcoholic in need of substance-abuse treatment. Problem is, this is the first anyone has ever heard about Kushner's alleged drinking problem. Kushner was sentenced to two years in a bizarre blackmail plot in which he arranged for his own brother-in-law to be videotaped having sex with a prostitute whom Kushner had hired......to embarrass his sister, who was a cooperating witness to his tax-fraud and campaign-finance malfeasance. Now, Kushner is going to a...

WASHINGTON - Shortly after being elected New Jersey's governor, Democrat Jon Corzine speculated aloud that he might appoint a woman to fill out his unexpired Senate term. Then he singled out black state Sen. Nia Gill, calling her an "extraordinarily capable woman." Gill did not shy away from the hint. "I have the qualifications," she told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "If I am chosen by Jon, I am more than qualified to rise to the occasion." If Corzine does select Gill — a 57-year-old attorney — she would become only the sixth black, and second black woman ever to...

So much for the suggestion that running multimillionaire candidates who can self-finance their campaigns will rid politics of the "influence of money" factor. Sen. Jon Corzine... whose approach to politics has always been "you have to give if you want to receive" suddenly finds himself embroiled in a potential scandal involving both money and sex. Judging by his reaction thus far, Corzine believes his best bet is to stay close-mouthed behind an avowal of his right to privacy... lends an added air of someone trying to hide something. And since Corzine is trying to run as the Mr. Clean..., the...

Realty firm positions itself in anticipation of exec's imprisonment Sunday, January 16, 2005 BY GEORGE E. JORDAN Star-Ledger Staff Alan Hammer, acting chairman of Kushner Cos., said the real estate venture is selling some of its apartments simply because it is a good time to sell. The sale of an unspecified number of apartments, the backbone of the Kushner empire, with estimated assets of $3 billion, comes as the company has quietly sold off other pieces of its real estate portfolio and shut down some of its fledgling enterprises.

TRENTON, Sept. 3 - Gov. James E. McGreevey's uncharted, uncertain journey toward resignation reached two important milestones in recent days, yet with each new fact that emerged, the entire ordeal seemed to grow more puzzling. The first came on Monday, when lawyers for Golan Cipel, the former aide who prompted the resignation by threatening to file a lawsuit against Mr. McGreevey alleging harassment and sexual assault, announced that he would not sue the governor after all. Then at midnight Friday, Mr. McGreevey - who vows to remain in office until Nov. 15 and allow the Senate president to complete the...

Golan Cipel won't file a sexual-harassment suit against New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, his lawyers said yesterday — but the Israeli still insists he is the wronged victim of unwanted advances. Attorneys Rachel Yosevitz and Allen Lowy told a hastily called news conference the governor's resignation announcement was sufficient admission of wrongdoing — and money was never the issue for Cipel. "Had the governor not resigned and admitted his wrongdoings, Mr. Cipel emphatically stated that he would have sued," said Yosevitz, who just returned from visiting McGreevey's former homeland-security adviser in Israel. Cipel, 36, "has no desire to have the...

NEW YORK -- A former aide who claims New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey sexually harassed him will not file a lawsuit against the governor, the man's lawyer said Monday. The governor's resignation announcement was sufficient admission of his wrongdoing and the issue was never about money, said lawyer Rachel Yosevitz, attorney for Golan Cipel. McGreevey announced Aug. 12 that he was gay and would resign from office because he had an extramarital affair with a man. Administration sources identified the other man in the relationship as Cipel. But the former McGreevey homeland security adviser denied that he was gay...

Attorneys for the college that oddly figured into negotiations over a former aide's threatened sexual harassment lawsuit against Gov. James E. McGreevey say they may sue one of the aide's lawyers because he was not authorized to use Touro College's name. McGreevey administration sources said Golan Cipel demanded millions of dollars and a charter for a New Jersey-based medical school for Touro College in exchange for remaining silent about his relationship with McGreevey. Cipel, who sources said had an affair with the governor, worked for the Manhattan college for three months last fall when it was trying to establish a...

A Sex Scandal in Trenton, and a Puzzle for Detectives By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI Published: August 22, 2004 TRENTON, Aug. 20 - As federal agents investigate Gov. James E. McGreevey's accusation that a former adviser tried to extort millions of dollars by threatening to disclose their extramarital affair publicly, the basic outlines of the case are not in dispute. Lawyers for Mr. McGreevey and his former aide, Golan Cipel, had dozens of telephone conversations to discuss Mr. Cipel's plan to pursue a sexual harassment and assault lawsuit against the governor and a possible financial agreement in the case before any papers...

Livingston MD arrested on charges of impersonation and causing alarm The Livingston doctor's picture was splashed all over the New York tabloids. He made the evening news, enthralling some members of the media with tales of being the gay lover of the central figure in the McGreevey sex scandal. But in addition to his sex claims, police reports reviewed by The Star-Ledger yesterday show Michael David Miller has falsely told police he is a CIA operative and that the satellite dish on his house is used for CIA communication. In a series of phone calls to police and Essex County...

NEWARK — A doctor who told reporters he had an affair with a man accusing Gov. James E. McGreevey of sexual harassment was arrested at his Livingston home and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday. Officers took Michael David Miller into custody about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office said Friday morning. Miller was reportedly charged with impersonating an FBI officer and causing false public alarm. “His behavior was so bizarre that I felt compelled, after discussing this with the prosecutor, to take this action to protect the community and Mr. Miller,” Sheriff Armando Fontoura told the Star-Ledger...

Impossible to know where truth is The papers call him an Israeli poet, but it turns out the only poetry he ever produced was a self-published book at age 16. He wrote press releases in New York's Israeli consulate office, but in a 1999 speech he bragged about his work with prime ministers and on sensitive peace negotia-tions. He insists he's strictly a heterosexual, yet both the governor of New Jersey and now a college professor reportedly had gay affairs with him. It's almost understandable why the Arab television network Al-Jazeera has posted a bizarre story claiming he's a secret...

I was Cipel's lover... ...and he's still in love with the gov, says prof BY RALPH R. ORTEGA, ALISON GENDAR and NANCY DILLONDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS The mystery man who claims to be Golan Cipel's ex-lover said yesterday that not only is the handsome Israeli gay - he's also still in love with Gov. Jim McGreevey. "Golan says he's not gay? He could have fooled me," Dr. David Miller of Livingston, N.J., told the Daily News yesterday, as he claimed that he had a gay affair with the ex-McGreevey aide. "We love each other. Is that a crime? We're...