Celebrity News

Mogul finally free of stalker

Thomas H. Lee, the private equity dealmaker who sold Snapple for $2 billion, can breathe easier in 2010, now that his longtime stalker has been brought to justice.

The billionaire made a mistake in 1993 when he had a brief affair with Philadelphia stockbroker Laura Goldman.

Eleven months later, when he missed a dinner date with her, she turned into a “Fatal Attraction” type who went from hang-up calls to demands for money, to death threats, and even a false charge of rape.

But the 15-year nightmare is finally over. Goldman, who fled to Israel in 2000 to avoid prosecution, was extradited to the US eight months ago to face an 18-count indictment, the Boston Globe reports.

Goldman recently pleaded guilty in Boston federal court to two charges of attempted extortion. Instead of jail, she was sentenced to five years of highly restrictive probation. She is barred from contacting Lee, his family and his business associates, and from visiting Massachusetts, New York and Florida. Plus, her computers will be monitored.

Sources say Goldman, 51, will live with her mother in New Jersey, but is working with the p.r. team opening Sheldon Adelson‘s $4 billion casino project in Singapore.

Lee, 65, who started out in Boston, but now runs the Blue Star hybrid hedge fund in New York, had no comment. The financier, who was separated when the fling started, paid Goldman $200,000 in 1995, and $15,000 more for psychiatric care, after she signed an affadavit admitting she hadn’t been raped, the Globe reported.

But the stalking continued, even after she pleaded guilty in New York to interstate harassment and was put on probation. In August 2000, on the day an arrest warrant was issued, she fled to Israel, where she demanded millions of dollars for mental health treatment.