Exclusive! Divorce, Ponzi Style

In the current issue of the magazine, Michael Shnayerson’s story “All the Best Victims” takes a long, hard look at celebrity money manager Ken Starr who has been charged with running a $59 million Ponzi scheme and defrauding such celebrity clients as Barbara Walters and Al Pacino.’s John Connolly has obtained documents regarding Starr’s 2007 divorce settlement with his third wife, Marisa Vucci, his former assistant and then office manager. These documents offer a rare glimpse into Starr’s private affairs, and a high-profile, high-net-worth divorce. They also reveal that Starr was very generous to Vucci (who was tragically diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2002) as he continued to pay not only her $750,000 annual salary long after he was obligated to but also her two mortgages in full, while the settlement stipulated only that he had to pay half.

Exhibit A The Starr divorce-settlement agreement, sections of which are posted below, demonstrates exactly how generous Starr was to Vucci. A close reading of it shows that Starr’s about-to-be fourth wife, Diane Passage, would not share in any increase in value of her future husband’s company or his investments. The settlement clearly established that he and Vucci would split 50-50 all of Starr’s investments in perpetuity, including his own company, Starr, Inc.

Exhibit B This is a document that Starr put together that lists what he believes the investments he and Vucci jointly own were worth, or could be worth in the future.