Taja Abitbol known as her neighbor insane for accusing her of "being an arsonist."
Jeffery Salter
Taja Abitbol wears many hats: mother, associate, entrepreneur, restaurateur. However she insists that she’s no hearth starter.
This week, The Put up reported that Abitbol, the longtime girlfriend of former Yankees and Mets pitcher David Cone, has been accused by a former neighbor in a lawsuit of beginning a hearth on the couple’s Manhattan condo — allegedly in a bid to land a job on “The Actual Housewives of New York Metropolis.”
Talking solely to The Put up, Abitbol, 50, denied the allegations. “That is only a vendetta towards me, it’s jealousy,” she stated. “[The neighbor] is accusing me of being an arsonist. That’s insane, and it’s defamatory.”
In response to Abitbol, on the morning of Nov. 9, 2019, she lit a sage candle for her morning meditation within the eating room of her and Cone’s four-bedroom condo in Lincoln Sq..
As she stated her prayers, Abitbol defined, the candle went up in flames, setting off the constructing’s sprinklers.
“I had by no means used this candle earlier than,” stated Abitbol: “And it had precise sage leaves contained in the candle — I didn't know that.
“I didn't go away it unattended, however the sage one way or the other sparked and it went up in flames, nevertheless it didn’t trigger a [big] hearth. The sprinklers went off and the constructing [staff] couldn’t get the sprinklers to show off. They needed to break the hose to show the water off. I used to be standing in water as much as my knees.”
The NYPD and FDNY had been known as “instantly” to the incident, which was later dominated an accident, Abitbol stated. A report by the fireplace division obtained by The Put up confirmed this.
“Don’t you suppose they'd know if it had been set intentionally?” she stated. “I'd have been arrested and despatched to jail!”
She, Cone, their 10-year-old son, Sammy, and the household canine left the condo and haven’t lived there since.
On her method out, Abitbol managed to seize vital paperwork like passports and her son’s delivery certificates, however has not seen the majority of her belongings since 2019, she stated.
“It was the worst time of my life … I needed to decide my son up from faculty that day and inform him we weren't going dwelling. It was a horror present,” Abitbol stated. “We’ve gone by hell, and now I’m being sued practically 4 years later.”
In response to the lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Courtroom on July 1 by her downstairs neighbor Daniel Rice, the sprinklers considerably broken his condo.
“Daniel Rice is the true sufferer right here. We take a majority of these claims very significantly, he takes them significantly, and he has been positioned able the place he needed to act,” stated his legal professional Jonathan Temchin of Tarter Krinsky & Drogin.
Rice additionally claimed within the lawsuit that Abitbol and Cone “intentionally, knowingly, deliberately and/or recklessly … brought on the fireplace … to ensure that Abitbol to have a narrative to debate on the ‘Tamron Corridor Present’ and/or to advance Abitbol’s candidacy as a castmate for the Actual Housewives of New York [City] tv present, amongst different issues.
“Abitbol’s want for fame and notoriety is well-known,” Rice’s lawsuit — which Abitbol solely discovered when a sports activities fan alerted her to it over Instagram — alleged.
Abitbol confirmed to The Put up that she has spoken to Bravo execs prior to now — and is shut associates with a slew of “Housewives” stars, together with New Jersey’s Teresa Giudice and Cynthia Bailey from the Atlanta present. As as to whether she needs to be on the present, she stated: “Why not!”
Nonetheless, “One factor has nothing to do with the opposite,” Abitbol stated, including she has by no means met Rice. “This was a faulty candle, it was a pure accident.”
Bailey was truly on her strategy to NYC to stick with Abitbol for just a few days when she heard the condo had flooded. “Taja was utterly devastated,” stated Bailey: “She couldn’t even discuss on the cellphone. She was a multitude … making an attempt to determine the place she and her household had been going to reside.”
Abitbol, who grew up in Queens, added that the final time she went again to the rental property was in late 2019 to gather her household’s belongings and meet with insurance coverage brokers and constructing administration.
Abitbol and Cone now cut up their time between their Florida dwelling and NYC. Cone, 59, retired from baseball in 2003 and is now a colour commentator on ESPN and the YES Community. Abitbol not too long ago opened Taja Drip, a luxurious wellness heart in Miami providing vitamin IV infusions, primarily based out of stylish South Seaside resort Faena, and has additionally began a skincare vary and complement line.
She believes that her former neighbor is concentrating on her household due to Cone’s standing: “This man is seeking to sue me as a result of David is a New York legend — he doesn’t deserve this, the poor man.”
The 2 first met at her former restaurant Taja — a French Moroccan place within the Higher East Facet that closed in 2007 — after which once more at a vacation social gathering in 2010. She stated they're “longtime engagees” however have by no means wed. She has owned 4 eating places in whole, three in NYC and one in Las Vegas, however all are actually shuttered.
Rice, who's suing each Abitbol and Cone for a minimum of $320,000 in damages, claimed in his lawsuit the couple “negligently and wantonly left candles burning in Unit 14B which began a hearth and brought on important injury to Unit 12G.”
The injury from the blaze and water sprinklers compelled him to hold out a “intestine renovation” of the house, the lawsuit claims, throughout which era he was compelled to search out “various momentary residing preparations.”
The lawsuit notes that Rice, an Military vet, obtained a Purple Coronary heart when he was injured by an improvised explosive gadget in 2005 after serving a number of excursions within the Center East. He's at present serving because the Particular Advisor to Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Normal Valeriy Zaluzhnyy within the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the courtroom papers stated.
Abitbol’s legal professional, movie star favourite Stephanie Ovadia, confirmed to The Put up this week that she had filed a lawsuit within the Supreme Courtroom of New York in November 2021 towards the Chinese language producer of the candle, The Sunny Manufacturing facility LLC. The Put up has seen the submitting.
Abitbol initially purchased the Magnificent 101 Sage Leaf Power Cleaning Candle for $13.49 on Amazon.com. Ovadia stated Abitbol introduced the go well with in an try and get again funds that her insurance coverage didn’t cowl. They've but to listen to again from the producer.
A day after the incident, Abitbol was interviewed on the “Tamron Corridor Present.” To advertise her look, the present’s Twitter account posted on the day of the fireplace: “We’re speaking to Taja Abitbol. She’s obsessive about astrology and not too long ago didn’t suppose what her astrologists stated would come true nevertheless it did.”
Throughout her look on the present, Abitbol defined how her astrologers predicted she would transfer out of the condo she had simply moved into.
“Yesterday morning, I principally set the home on hearth throughout Mercury retrograde and I needed to transfer. I got here right here from my resort room,” the lawsuit quoted Abitbol as telling Corridor.
However Abitbol stated she was by no means even meant to participate within the episode. Her good friend, an astrologer, known as hours after the blaze and requested Abitbol to take her place as a visitor, she stated.
Jill Zarin, a “RHONY” star and longtime good friend of Abitbol and Cone, this week stated that she stands behind her pal. “She’s an excellent enterprise girl with a legit, profitable enterprise,” she instructed The Put up.
“It was water that broken the man’s condo, not hearth,” Zarin added. “It was nothing to do with the present.”
Bailey agreed. “I’ve been on this present for 11 years, I’ve seen all of it — and I by no means as soon as heard of anybody doing something so loopy to attempt to be on the present!
“Taja could be nice on a ‘Housewives’ franchise, for certain. She’s achieved, profitable, self-made, she is an entrepreneur. She’s humorous and exquisite, she’s good … it simply hasn’t occurred but.
A Bravo supply instructed The Put up that they’re not conscious of any curiosity from the community in Abitbol, and stated that such antics will surely not assist.
“That isn't the way in which to land a spot however fairly a strategy to lose one!” they stated.
However Zarin definitely understands why Abitbol would possibly wish to be solid. “She noticed what the present did for my enterprise, and why wouldn’t she need that for her enterprise?” Zarin instructed The Put up. “There’s no disgrace in that sport.”
Abitbol — whose first title means “Crown” in Sanskrit — added: “I’m not a wannabe, I’m the toughest working individual there's.”
Extra reporting by Oli Coleman
Pictures: Jeffery Salter; Make-up: Sharell Mignoli/beautybysharell; Hair: Lisa Marie Rodriguez.
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