'Romney has a lot of bodies in his personal and business life… and all will soon be revealed': Threats made by first wife of ex-Staples CEO at center of Allred's 'October Surprise'
- Tom Stemberg is a staunch supporter and former business partner of the presidential candidate
- Mr Romney reportedly testified about Stemberg's role as a father to his four sons from his two ex-wives
- First wife Maureen Stemberg branded Romney as 'deplorable'
- Celebrity attorney Gloria Alldred in court after application was filed to have court records unsealed and a gagging order on the parties involved lifted
- Boston Globe newspaper reportedly received a tip-off that there was 'juicy information about Romney' in the sealed documents
- The revelations are said to involve allegations about a child custody matter
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's character will be called into question if explosive details of his sworn testimony at the divorce hearing of former Staples CEO Tom Stemberg, are released to the public today, it has been claimed.
Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who has promised an 'October surprise', is due in court in Canton, Massachusetts this morning for an application to have case records unsealed and a gagging order on all parties involved lifted.
The Boston Globe newspaper filed the application after reportedly receiving a tip-off that there was 'juicy information about Romney' in the sealed documents. The revelations are said to involve allegations about a child custody matter.
MailOnline has discovered a string of online messages from a commenter claiming to be his first wife, Maureen Stemberg, in which she unleashes a scathing attack on Romney and promises all 'will very soon be revealed' - in a possible nod to Allred's campaign. She also refers witheringly to his wife as 'Queen Ann' and lambasts both as out of touch.
Battle: As Gloria Allred tries to unseal the
divorce papers of ex-Staples CEO Tom Stemberg, left, to call Romney's
character into question, his ex-wife Maureen, right, has lambasted
Romney
In a series of unashamedly pro-Obama comments on the Huffington Post, a woman calling herself Maureen Stemberg writes: 'He had a lot of bodies hidden in his "personal and business life". Will very soon be revealed. When the door opens he and his team will be heading for the hills. Scary group.'
She claims she was married to 'his partner in crime, Mr Staples' - a close friend and advocate of Romney - and brands the presidential hopeful 'deplorable'.
Mr Romney reportedly testified about Mr Stemberg's role as a father to his four sons from two ex-wives during court proceedings surrounding his 'messy' divorce from Maureen in 1987.
RadarOnline.com quoted a source as saying: 'Governor Mitt Romney gave sworn testimony about his observations of Tom's role as a father to his four sons.'
And Maureen Stemberg apparently remains extremely bitter about his part in her divorce, posting last month: 'I know the man and his wife. President Obama the only one to be our President!'
She also describes a time the Romney attended their house for a Christmas party and 'tried very hard to be real'.
Potentially damaging transcripts of sworn
testimony given by Mitt Romney at the divorce hearing of former Staples
CEO Tom Stemberg could be released today
Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred is heading to court on today in an
attempt to unseal Mitt Romney's sworn testimony in a prior court case,
according to the celebrity gossip website Radar Online
A 2005 Boston Globe article reported that Maureen received nearly 500,000 shares of Staples stock in the divorce, but sold half before the company went public, missing out on a huge windfall.
And while another Globe article the following year described her as living an comfortable lifestyle, she demanded that her ex-husband pay her more money.
She 'sits in her $5,200 a month, 14th-floor, concierge-at-the-door, elegantly furnished Back Bay apartment and tells you she’s broke,' it wrote. 'She can’t work. She can’t afford a car, her medications, her rent, even the family springer spaniel, J.J., who she just gave away.'
Speaking out: Maureen Sullivan Stemberg branded Romney 'scary' and called him out of touch
Prolific: The slew of posts were made by an account named Maureen Stemberg on the Huffington Post
'I'm going to be out on the street,' she said. 'I've had a change of circumstances.'
The online messages and interviews apparently reveal her enduring bitterness about her husband and their divorce - and Romney's part in it.
She even featured in a 2008 Lifetime documentary, The Maureen Sullivan Stemberg Story: A Portrait in Courage, in which she gave an 'in-depth account ... of the interweaving relationships and strange bedfellow that business has made in her life... which include Mitt Romney.'
Polls show Romney and President Obama are neck-and-neck two weeks ahead of the election and Allred's claims may be perceived as the latest round in a tit-for-tat battle between supporters of the two candidates.
Mr Stemberg's sons are in their mid-teens and early twenties. His divorce attorney, Joel Kozel is also expected to attend today's hearing. It is not known whether Mr Romney will attend.
Another source quoted on the RadarOnline said: 'Ms. Allred's client feels that the public needs to know about Governor Mitt Romney's role in this very important case.
Close friend: Tom Stemberg, who founded the company in 1986, is a staunch reporter of Romney
COURTING CONTROVERSY: THE WORK OF GLORIA ALLRED
Gloria Allred has a long history of trotting
out female clients who claim to have revealing and damaging stories
about high-profile men.
The California attorney's clients have included the family of Nicole Brown Simpson in the O.J. Simpson trial and former Spice Girl Mel B for her paternity case against Eddie Murphy.
She has represented two of Tiger Woods' alleged mistresses, Rachel Uchitel and Joslyn James, and worked for Ginger Lee, who claimed Anthony Wiener had encouraged her to lie during his sexting scandal.
More recently, she represented Sharon Bialek, who claimed Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain had groped her, and the girlfriend of the former girlfriend of Rudy Eugene, known as the 'Miami Cannibal'.
The California attorney's clients have included the family of Nicole Brown Simpson in the O.J. Simpson trial and former Spice Girl Mel B for her paternity case against Eddie Murphy.
She has represented two of Tiger Woods' alleged mistresses, Rachel Uchitel and Joslyn James, and worked for Ginger Lee, who claimed Anthony Wiener had encouraged her to lie during his sexting scandal.
More recently, she represented Sharon Bialek, who claimed Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain had groped her, and the girlfriend of the former girlfriend of Rudy Eugene, known as the 'Miami Cannibal'.
Mr Stemberg, 63, has four sons from his two ex-wives, Maureen Sullivan Stemberg and Dola Hamilton Stemberg.
But the Globe reported on his 'paternal shortcomings' in 2006, recounting a story about how, when Stemberg lived with his second wife and their young children, he cut out his then 12-year-old son with his wife Maureen.
It explains that he wrote to the boy: '"It will not be possible for you to be part of our family in the foreseeable future", because of the child’s supposed misbehavior during their divorce, he wrote, blaming the child for taking sides between parents and creating unbearable hassles, such as monthly court appearances.'
Stemberg's links to the Presidential candidate are well documented. Mr Romney's hedge fund, Bain Capital, was an early investor in Staples.
Mr Romney was a director of the firm for over a decade and some 90,000 of the 100,000 private sector jobs he has boasted of creating are through stationary retailer.
During a speech given at the Republican National Convention last summer Stemberg praised the Massachusetts Governor saying: 'He never looked at Staples as merely a financial investment.
'He saw the engine of prosperity it could become. Today Staples employs nearly 90,000 people.
'It has over 2,000 stores, over 50 distribution centers, and it is part of a competitive industry that helps entrepreneurs and small businesses get started on their own.'
And during an interview with PBS' Frontline earlier this year Stemberg described his first meeting with Mr Romney.
Speculation: Reports of the hearing broke as
speculation swirls over what Allred's rumored 'October surprise' -- a
last-ditch effort to damage Republican nominee Mitt Romney ahead of the
election -- could entail.
He said: 'When you first walked in and saw Mitt, he looked like a guy who ought to be president of the United States.
'This guy, he looked perfect; he dressed perfect; he spoke perfectly. He asked the most poignant questions in a very, very nice way and didn't make you feel defensive and really drew the best or worst out of you. He was just really, really good.'
Stemberg described Mr Romney as being 'no shrinking violet' and said he hadn't been concerned when his friend entering politics running for governor of Massachusetts.
'Nobody pushes Mitt Romney around. Having said that, if there's one person whom he will almost always defer to, it's Ann Romney.' he added.
Conservative blogger Matt Drudge fuelled talk last week that Ms Allred was up to something when he tweeted: 'Here she comes. Hearing Gloria Allred out there again, about to make a move. After all, it's her time of the campaign. Team O at the ready!!'
Several news organizations had speculated that the case could involve Mormon women whom Romney advised on family matters while he was bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Famous takedowns: One of Allred's most famous
clients includes a woman who accused former Tea Party presidential
candidate Herman Cain of sexual assault.
One of Allred's most famous clients includes a woman who accused former Tea Party presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual assault.
Another famous client includes a woman who claimed California GOP candidate Meg Whitman knowingly employed her as an illegal immigrant housekeeper.
Some conservative bloggers appear concerned about what Allred might expose.
The New York conservative blog, The Red Side of Life, demanded Romney supporters 'stop her now,' adding 'we're doing too well to risk 'an Allred.'
'Gloria Allred Prepares Anti-Mitt Strike You Can STOP Her Now! (action!) Don't underestimate Gloria Allred's ability to inflict damage,' the website reads.
HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE A WEALTHY WOMAN DIVORCED
By Dan Bates
The supposed October Surprise is the latest twist in Maureen Sullivan’s ‘war’ with her husband Tom Stemberg which has been raging for the past 25 years.
The pair divorced in 1987 but it was not until 2002 that things were finally resolved in court – but the resentment clearly still hangs heavy in the air today.
The messy split became the talk of Boston society which had never seen such a protracted and public battle between two of its own.
The sorry saga has been picked over repeatedly by the city's newspapers, but at one point made it onto the front page of the Wall St Journal, which wrote an article to mark its 10th anniversary.
Under her divorce agreement Sullivan was given nearly 500,000 shares in Staples, which her husband was running at the time, valued at $2.25 a share, according to a report in The Boston Herald.
She sold off half her stock but two years later they soared to $19 a share when the company went public.
Sullivan, 61, duly sued her ex-husband for more money but her case was dismissed. She then sued the lawyer who advised her for the $3m in fees she racked up.
As the years rolled by neither Sullivan nor Stemberg, who said to be worth up to $300m, gave any ground.
The case went through four Massachusetts courts in which judges heard bitter child custody hearings over their son.
The Boston Herald has reported that in 1999 Sullivan briefly went bankrupt and despite suffering from cervical and thyroid cancers she claimed Stemberg cut off her health insurance. A court later forced him to reinstate it.
In another twist Stemberg, 63, and his second wife Dola also sued Sullivan for defamation in Suffolk Superior Court after she supposedly phoned one of his business rivals in a bid to sabotage a deal.
According to the Boston Globe, Sullivan was said to have called up Michael Feuer, the chief executive of OfficeMax, with which Stemberg’s Staples was doing a deal.
During a phone conversation Sullivan supposedly claimed that ‘she had started Staples’ and that she wanted to help him any way she could, an offer Feuer refused.
In other hearings at the same court Sullivan claimed to have been given death threats by Stemberg, though these were not proven.
The Boston Globe reported that she also alleged Dola Stemberg, 60, had abused her son - also not proven - and said that the Stembergs are ‘just not nice people.’
By 2006 Sullivan’s life appears to have stabilised and she was living in a $5,200 a month, 14th floor doorman apartment in the Back Bay area of Boston - but still claimed she was broke.
According from a Boston Herald article at the time she tearfully claimed that unless Stemberg gave her more money she would be ‘out on the street’.
She also reeled off a long list of medical complaints including seizures, therapy, pneumonia and possible lupus that were supposedly not being covered by her medical bills.
For his part Stemberg did not come out of the affair unblemished and during one hearing it emerged he had written an extraordinarily cruel letter to his son Mac, now 28, when he was aged just 12.
In it he said that he loved him but added that due to the divorce: ‘It will not be possible for you to be a part of our family for the foreseeable future.’
Stemberg’s split from his second wife was just as public and acrimonious.
Dola Stemberg filed for divorce in August 2003 after 15 years of marriage and two children and accused him of cheating on her with his former executive assistant and indulging in 'substance abuse', the Boston Herald has reported.
With memories of his public battle with Sullivan still in his mind, Stemberg tried but failed to keep the hearings private.
When the papers were released, the papers showed the couple shared a luxury $3.6m mansion in Boston, another house in the city and a interests in a range of blue-chip companies.
Dola Stemberg and Sullivan have been seen hugging each other in public in what appears to be a sign they have forgiven each other, even if they have different feelings towards their ex-husband.
Stemberg is now married to his third wife, Katherine Chapman, the founder of Toronto-based Olly Shoes.
Sullivan has reinvented herself as an interior designer based in Charelstown, Massachusetts and regularly posts angry comments on her Twitter page related to her time with her ex-husband.
The supposed October Surprise is the latest twist in Maureen Sullivan’s ‘war’ with her husband Tom Stemberg which has been raging for the past 25 years.
The pair divorced in 1987 but it was not until 2002 that things were finally resolved in court – but the resentment clearly still hangs heavy in the air today.
The messy split became the talk of Boston society which had never seen such a protracted and public battle between two of its own.
The sorry saga has been picked over repeatedly by the city's newspapers, but at one point made it onto the front page of the Wall St Journal, which wrote an article to mark its 10th anniversary.
Under her divorce agreement Sullivan was given nearly 500,000 shares in Staples, which her husband was running at the time, valued at $2.25 a share, according to a report in The Boston Herald.
She sold off half her stock but two years later they soared to $19 a share when the company went public.
Sullivan, 61, duly sued her ex-husband for more money but her case was dismissed. She then sued the lawyer who advised her for the $3m in fees she racked up.
As the years rolled by neither Sullivan nor Stemberg, who said to be worth up to $300m, gave any ground.
The case went through four Massachusetts courts in which judges heard bitter child custody hearings over their son.
The Boston Herald has reported that in 1999 Sullivan briefly went bankrupt and despite suffering from cervical and thyroid cancers she claimed Stemberg cut off her health insurance. A court later forced him to reinstate it.
In another twist Stemberg, 63, and his second wife Dola also sued Sullivan for defamation in Suffolk Superior Court after she supposedly phoned one of his business rivals in a bid to sabotage a deal.
According to the Boston Globe, Sullivan was said to have called up Michael Feuer, the chief executive of OfficeMax, with which Stemberg’s Staples was doing a deal.
During a phone conversation Sullivan supposedly claimed that ‘she had started Staples’ and that she wanted to help him any way she could, an offer Feuer refused.
In other hearings at the same court Sullivan claimed to have been given death threats by Stemberg, though these were not proven.
The Boston Globe reported that she also alleged Dola Stemberg, 60, had abused her son - also not proven - and said that the Stembergs are ‘just not nice people.’
By 2006 Sullivan’s life appears to have stabilised and she was living in a $5,200 a month, 14th floor doorman apartment in the Back Bay area of Boston - but still claimed she was broke.
According from a Boston Herald article at the time she tearfully claimed that unless Stemberg gave her more money she would be ‘out on the street’.
She also reeled off a long list of medical complaints including seizures, therapy, pneumonia and possible lupus that were supposedly not being covered by her medical bills.
For his part Stemberg did not come out of the affair unblemished and during one hearing it emerged he had written an extraordinarily cruel letter to his son Mac, now 28, when he was aged just 12.
In it he said that he loved him but added that due to the divorce: ‘It will not be possible for you to be a part of our family for the foreseeable future.’
Stemberg’s split from his second wife was just as public and acrimonious.
Dola Stemberg filed for divorce in August 2003 after 15 years of marriage and two children and accused him of cheating on her with his former executive assistant and indulging in 'substance abuse', the Boston Herald has reported.
With memories of his public battle with Sullivan still in his mind, Stemberg tried but failed to keep the hearings private.
When the papers were released, the papers showed the couple shared a luxury $3.6m mansion in Boston, another house in the city and a interests in a range of blue-chip companies.
Dola Stemberg and Sullivan have been seen hugging each other in public in what appears to be a sign they have forgiven each other, even if they have different feelings towards their ex-husband.
Stemberg is now married to his third wife, Katherine Chapman, the founder of Toronto-based Olly Shoes.
Sullivan has reinvented herself as an interior designer based in Charelstown, Massachusetts and regularly posts angry comments on her Twitter page related to her time with her ex-husband.
But for Stemberg himself, the he saying ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ must be ringing in his head louder than ever.
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