From left: Giuseppe Cipriani, Harry Cipriani at 781 Fifth Avenue and Cipriani Downtown at 376 West Broadway

Giuseppe Cipriani, the head of the famed Manhattan-based restaurant, condominium and banquet hall chain, is facing a possible judgment after defaulting last year on a $2 million loan designed to help finance his company operations. Cipriani — who not long ago almost lost a number of restaurants at auction — failed to repay the loan when it came due in May 2010, and the loan was then sold to Rouvel Holdings, which entered a deal with Cipriani to repay the note under a restructuring plan, according to a Feb. 22 lawsuit. Cipriani paid a $100,000 down payment, but the two parties failed to reach agreement on a plan, and the loan was sold to Landover Marketing. [more]

While he might not have been able to negotiate the 2000 election in Al Gore’s favor, trial lawyer David Boies has negotiated a sizeable discount on a 35th-floor apartment at the Sherry-Netherland on the Upper East Side. The seven-room unit at the hotel-co-op building at 781 Fifth Avenue between 59th and 60th streets had first hit the market at $9.95 million in April. Boies’ closing price on the unit, Cityfile reported, was $7.75 million.