An elderly private-equity chief is harassing his estranged wife so much via text — including boasting about Donald Trump’s election victory — that it led her to send him to a Manhattan judge on Tuesday.
John H. Foster, 82 – a longtime health-equipment mogul and managing partner $800 million private equity firm HealthPointCapital – Multiple phone messages were sent to wife Stephanie over the past two weeks, including while she was testifying in court just blocks away from him, the judge hearing the warring couple’s divorce case.
“Happy Halloween,” one of the texts John wrote to Stephanie while testifying in court on Oct. 31 read — and he even threw in some “pumpkin and ghost emojis” for good measure, according to one of his attorneys, Rita Glavin. ,
But there was a foreshadowing at the end of the seemingly innocuous seasonal greeting.
“Whatever work you do, you will get the same result!!” Read the text, as Glavin described it in court Tuesday.
John – who has Claims made during former couple’s three-year-long divorce trial that he is now destitute – also sent Stefani a message after last week’s presidential election that contained a cartoon image of President-elect Trump holding his fist in the air.
The husband wrote, “Are you okay? Because you weren’t feeling well today,” Glavin said.
“This is not about, ‘I’m worried, I’m worried about you,'” the lawyer argued, “this is a taunt to a witness in the middle of testimony.”
Glavin, a former federal prosecutor turned criminal defense attorney, called it “witness tampering” and cited disgraced crypto expert Sam Bankman-Fried, who Locked up last year on charges of intimidating witnesses,
Foster’s attorney, Linda Rosenthal, attempted to classify the texts as an example of John’s concern for his wife’s well-being, but Judge Ta-Tanisha James did not seem to buy it.
A Manhattan Civil Court judge ordered that neither party in the bitter marriage be allowed to send messages to the other, “otherwise sanctions will be imposed.”
“And it starts now,” James said sternly.
John and Stephanie Foster married in 2009 and lead an extravagant lifestyle filled with jets, a $10 million Fishers Island home, a huge Texas ranch full of exotic African animals and an expensive Fifth Avenue pad.
Stephanie says despite her husband’s claims of poverty, she received a devastating text message Revealed in an article published by The PostThere is evidence that her claim of poverty was part of a “net-worth strategy” to leave him penniless after almost 15 years of marriage.
On Tuesday, James’ frustration with John over the messages turned into screaming when it emerged he had missed months of payment on his wife’s rent and other expenses.
“So let’s get this done – today,” James shouted at Foster and his legal team.
“Ms. Foster’s rent has to be paid. Spousal support has to be paid.
“You will not prevent Ms. Foster from receiving the funds this court has already ordered,” James told the bench.
“That bothers me.”
“It feels like gamesmanship is going on,” the judge said, “and I know that’s not what’s happening, but that’s how it feels.”
The hearing ended early when Foster suddenly left the courtroom complaining of chest pain and court officials called an ambulance for him.
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