NYC- A scheming secretary who sued the head of a prestigious Park Ave. investment firm for sex harassment pleaded guilty Wednesday to ripping him off.
Fatima Monahan, a former assistant to Caxton-Iseman Chairman Frederick Iseman, admitted in Manhattan Supreme Court that she charged more $45,000 in personal expenses to his American Express card.
She faces five years' probation when she is sentenced next month and has to pay back $45,000.
"She brought a salacious lawsuit against me and my firm solely to deflect attention from her criminal misdeeds and to attempt to embarrass me into paying her off," Iseman said in a statement.
Prosecutors say Monahan used money from Iseman's firm, which manages billions of dollars, to buy shoes, clothes and fancy bed linens from Bergdorf Goodman.
Monahan sued Iseman in April 2007, accusing him of making sex-related demands.
The Manhattan district attorney's office had by then begun investigating Iseman's claim that Monahan was shaking him down.
In his statement, Iseman said Monahan's shocking allegations have been "proven entirely false....That guilty plea and her felony record are the ultimate repudiation of her disgusting lies."
The civil suit is still penmding in Manhattan Supreme Court. The two sides are set to go before a judge next month.
Monahan's lawyer described her as a "wonderful wife and mother" and a "respected member" of her community.
"She simply wants to put this behind her and go on with her life," lawyer Chuck Ross said.
