New York- The accused million-dollar madam of Manhattan was forced yesterday to trade in her luxurious Trump Palace apartment for a jail cell.
The surprise twist in the salacious call girl case arose when Jenny Paulino, 44, could not come up with a $5,000 cash bail or $10,000 bond yesterday.
Standing silent in snug black pants and high-heeled boots, Paulino listened to Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Martin Murphy hand down his ruling before she marched over to join other inmates in the courtroom.
A court officer handcuffed the buxom champagne blond to a wooden bench and then went back to the audience section of the lower Manhattan courtroom to retrieve her fur-trimmed coat.
Paulino discreetly bent over and wiped her cheek. She then sat composed, staring straight ahead, until she was summoned to join the others for the bus ride to Rikers Island.
The divorced Catholic school graduate was arrested last week for allegedly running a high-end hooker ring.
Prosecutors charge she raked in about $2.5 million by selling sex to rich men lured to a brothel on E. 60th St. by ads in New York magazine.
Yesterday, prosecutor Michelle Warren said the district attorney’s office has convened a grand jury to hear evidence. The absence of a grand jury had been noted by Murphy.
Warren argued for a $200,000 bail, saying Paulino, who owns a co-op in the Trump Palace and another home in Miami, has “out-of-state assets.”
But Paulino’s lawyer, Kenneth Kaplan, denied that his client had any assets other than those prosecutors had already frozen.
“She has no where to go … No assets to go to,” he said.
Kaplan said Paulino, who was arrested along with her sister and four other women, had surgery for breast cancer last year. He said she is tethered to New York because doctors here are still treating her.
After hearing the arguments, Murphy said the notoriety of the case might trigger Paulino to flee, and set bail at $10,000 bond or $5,000 cash.
While a far cry from the initial $500,000 bail imposed by another judge Saturday, the sum was still too much money for Paulino to come up with.
Murphy gave prosecutors until Wednesday to indict Paulino. If they fail to act by then, she could be cut loose.