Helmsley’s Chef Duped In Real Estate Deal

From the Record/Herald:

Helmsley ex-chef’s claim to fee disputed
By KIBRET MARKOS

Chef Dennis Sammarone may have offered his goodwill to set up a meeting between his former boss, Leona Helmsley, and a developer who bought an expensive tract in Fort Lee from her.

But that gives him no legal claim to a share of the $46.3 million deal, the developer’s attorney argued in a Hackensack courtroom Friday.

“If you don’t have a broker’s license, you are barred from any attempts to collect a commission,” said Stuart Glick, the attorney for developer James Bovino.
…
Sammarone was a longtime cook and a close friend of Helmsley’s. His former boss’s “difficult personality was virtually legendary,” and she wasn’t even taking Bovino’s calls until Sammarone got involved, said the chef’s attorney, Angelo Genova.
…
“You have one of the most successful developers in the region going to the [negotiation] table with a chef,” Genova said. “Who is being taken advantage of? They duped him. They used him. They got what they wanted. And now they want to drop him like a hot potato.”