How Kenneth Starr Robbed the Stars

“Madoff?” That was the name one resident guessed as the reason why federal agents arrived at a tony Upper East Side condominium one morning this spring. The feds weren’t there for the Ponzi schemer’s son, Andrew, who had just moved in, but for another moneyman who had misled his clients: Kenneth Starr, the Bronx accountant who had managed to recruit a client list that read like Hollywood’s Walk of Fame: Al Pacino, Uma Thurman, Warren Beatty, and many more. Starr cowered in his bedroom closet, accused of stealing $59 million from star clients, according to a piece in August’s Vanity Fair. How did Starr get half of Hollywood plus New York’s media luminaries to invest their money with him? He played up his connections with former Blackstone chief Peter G. Peterson and legendary philanthropist Bunny Mellon. Many of the burned clients blame Starr’s wife, a former stripper, for his misdeeds, as he stole to pay for her lavish lifestyle. Starr’s wife, Diana, claims she had no idea what Starr was up to. Others tell stories of Starr’s burning resentment, that he wasn’t appreciated by his mega-watt clients.