Jocelyn Wildenstein, aka catwoman, showing effect of new plastic surgery on her lips March 18, 2011 X17online.com
(AXMalibu/X17online.com)
Jocelyn Wildenstein has gone from billionaire to broke.
The former socialite — nicknamed “Catwoman” for her obsession with plastic surgery to give her feline facial features — has filed for federal Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and astonishingly lists her Citibank account balance as “$0.”
The 77-year-old Manhattanite is scratching by on just $900 a month in Social Security income, the filing states.
“I am not employed and my only income is Social Security,” Wildenstein mews in an affidavit. “I often turn to friends and family in order to pay my ongoing expenses.”
But while she’s cash poor, Wildenstein is sitting on some pricey real estate.
The woman once called “Bride of Wildenstein” over her shocking facial reconstructions is perched in three adjoining apartments worth $11.75 million on the 51st floor of Trump World Tower. But she owes $4.6 million to Modern Bank for the massive home, which is currently in foreclosure, according to court papers. The city’s seeking nearly $25,000 in unpaid property taxes.
Other assets are underwater including a $38,000 payment to Chase Auto Finance for a 2006 Bentley that’s now worth just $35,000. Ina similar vein, she owes the prestigious
Manhattan storage company Day & Meyer, Murray and Young $700,000 for belongings that total $100,000, the filing says.
The rest of her assets are a $1,000 wardrobe and $100 television.
She’s seeking bankruptcy protection to “reorganize my financial affairs,” Wildenstein says in the statement, noting that she has a total $16.4 million in assets and $6.4 million in liabilities.
Wildenstein could claw her way out of bankruptcy if she gets the $4.5 million she says she’s due from her divorce. She was married to the late billionaire art dealer Alec
Wildenstein until 1999 when she netted a reported $2.5 billion in the split.
But those funds are apparently long gone. She’s $273,000 in debt to at least three law firms and owes the contractor who renovated her Trump World Tower apartment $175,000. The owner of a Beverly Hills bungalow she’d rented is after her for another $165,000.
Her American Express appears to be maxed out– she’s listed $70,000 debt with the credit card company.
The public bankruptcy has Wildenstein crouching under the covers, a close pal told The Post.
“She is beside herself that this has come out,” the friend said.
Another person who’s known Wildenstein for decades explained the fallen socialites financial straits.
“She is a very nice lady but she is very gullible. She has been taken by everyone,” the source said.
She’s embroiled in several lawsuits related to her foreclosures and credit card debt.
Wildenstein’s had a tough couple of years. She was arrested twice over incidents involving her on-again, off-again fiancé Lloyd Klein.
This article originally appeared in Page Six.
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