SUGAR-DADDY PAYOUT
TAX-CHEAT GOV AIDE'S SUGAR-DADDY PAYOUT
At the same time he was too "depressed" to pay his taxes, Charles O'Byrne, the disgraced former top aide to Gov. Paterson, was able to bankroll his younger boyfriend's grad-school tuition.
O'Byrne quit his $178,500-a-year position as Paterson's chief-of-staff two weeks ago after The Post revealed he had failed to pay $293,000 in taxes over a five-year period.
His lawyers blamed clinical depression and "nonfiler's syndrome," a purported psychological affliction that turned O'Byrne, a 49-year-old, openly gay, ex-Jesuit priest, into a laughingstock.
But documents and interviews show that during the years O'Byrne was supposedly unable to pay the taxman, he opened his wallet to handsome graduate student Sridhar Venkatapuram, now a 37-year-old research fellow at University College London.
Venkatapuram, a Hyderabad, India-born scholar and gay activist, received a "tuition support/loan" "in excess of $1,000" in 2006 from O'Byrne, according to O'Byrne's financial disclosure statements.
O'Byrne filed late income-tax returns that year, the first time he filed anything since 2001. He didn't start making back payments until 2007, O'Byrne's lawyer said.
When Venkatapuram received the tuition money from O'Byrne, he was pursuing his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and divided his time between the United Kingdom and O'Byrne's Stuyvesant Town apartment, documents show.
Venkatapuram, reached last week by phone at his office at University College London, where he is lecturing on "social justice," said, "I'm not really in touch with Charles O'Byrne anymore, and I don't want to talk about him. I have nothing to say."
Friends of O'Byrne confirmed that the two are no longer romantically involved.
O'Byrne was also a generous donor to gay-advocacy groups during his tax-scofflaw days.
On Oct. 20, he was a "leading patron," or $1,250 donor, at the Empire State Pride Agenda's fall dinner.
He paid off the remaining $3,641.85 he owed in taxes the next day.
O'Byrne declined comment.
White Party shows some signs of lower attendance. Hotel tax revenue is down 20% in Palm Springs. In a previous interview the promoter, Jeffery Sanker said he expected to sell more than 3000 tickets to the Saturday night music event featuring Lady Gaga. Starting as an underground sensation, Lady GaGa has increased her fan base with dance beats and an unusual style and is the big hit tonight at White Party 2009 in Palm Springs.
White Party Palm Springs, the crown jewel of gay getaways, pulls out all the stops as the hottest boys in the world descend on the desert in celebration of its twentieth anniversary April 10-13, 2009.
Now planned annually on the second week in April, White Party Palm Springs continues its twenty year tradition, bringing the picturesque desert oasis alive with the mightiest events of men, music and muscle. For the latest schedule and performance information, visit: www.jeffreysanker.com.
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