Guccione Averts Last-Minute Eviction from Eastside Mansion

HACKENSACK, N.J., Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ — Penthouse founder Bob Guccione just barely beat the clock and averted foreclosure on his Eastside Manhattan mansion with a $14.5 million payment on a defaulted loan to Kennedy Funding, a direct private lender based in Hackensack, late Monday afternoon Feb. 25.

A moving truck accompanied by the sheriff’s department pulled up in front of Guccione’s East 67th Street townhouse Monday morning ready to begin eviction proceedings on the 71-year-old founder of the Penthouse publishing empire. Guccione’s attorneys negotiated a last-minute deal with Kennedy Funding’s law firm, Herrick Feinstein LLP.

“We’re pleased that Mr. Guccione was able to make the payment and remain in his townhouse,” said Joseph Wolfer, chairman and founder of Kennedy Funding. “Our business is in serving clients and we’re glad we did not have to proceed with the eviction proceedings.”

Kennedy Funding came to Guccione’s rescue with a $14.5 million loan when the publisher defaulted on his original loan. Guccione’s financial troubles forced him to use the townhouse, his Upstate house in Hyde Park, NY and 2 properties in Atlantic City, NJ, as collateral for the Kennedy Funding loan.

As part of the new financial deal struck Monday, Guccione can now continue to live in the townhouse where he has resided for approximately 30 years.

“It is unfortunate that Mr. Guccione found himself in the predicament he did,” said Wolfer. “The magazines dealing with pornography, as a whole, has faced declining ad revenues and rising costs in the last few years.”

Based in Hackensack, NJ, Kennedy Funding is one of the nation’s leading direct private lenders providing loans from $1 million to $300 million. Established in 1987, Kennedy specializes in the rapid processing of commercial real estate loans. The firm’s unique, streamlined decision process and innovative approach to lending bypasses the red tape and time-consuming delays borrowers face with conventional lenders.