84-Year-Old Rye Man Demanded Sex Up To 10X Daily: $80M Lawsuit

RYE, NY — In an $80 million lawsuit, a 68-year-old former model claims that her on-again-off-again boyfriend of nearly 50 years cost her more than just her dreams.

In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Janet L. Bedin alleges that 84-year-old Vito Rocco Verni convinced her to abandon her career and a rent-stabilized NYC apartment to move into his Rye mansion, where he sometimes demanded sex up to ten times a day.

The lawsuit contends that despite Bedin cooking Verni's meals, cleaning his house, grocery shopping, doing laundry, ironing, taking care of his cat and filling the functions of a live-in nurse, Verni failed to live up to his promises.

Bedin attested that she even saved his life by insisting on taking him to the emergency room at Greenwich Hospital, where he was admitted for dangerously high blood pressure. But, according to the lawsuit, that didn't stop him from leaving her with nothing.

The lawsuit stems from the sometimes couple's relationship that dates back to 1976. According to court documents, the claims center around events that took place between February 2019 and December 2021 "when they lived together as a couple" in Rye.

Bedin is suing Verni for $80 million, accusing him of defamation, fraudulent inducement, intentional inducement of emotional distress, harassment, theft of property, abuse of process, misuse of an order of protection and illegal eviction, according to legal filings. Bedin is seeking $10 million for each of the eight causes of action.

Verni's attorneys say that the trumped-up lawsuit is not just frivolous — it might be criminal.

"Ms. Bedin’s baseless lawsuit is just one more attempt to harass Mr. Verni," Verni’s lawyer, Eric Grayson told the New York Post. "Ms. Bedin filed almost the exact same suit in Westchester County Supreme Court and last month it was dismissed by Justice Zuckerman on all counts. Mr. Verni has obtained 4 Orders of Protection against Ms. Bedin and at the last hearing, Justice Horowitz stated, 'Madame, you really need to understand, you’re going to end up in jail and I’m shocked that you haven’t already. It has to stop.' The Court has now fully warned Ms. Bedin and if she ends up in jail she has no one to blame but herself."

Bedin, however, contends she has endured decades of harassment and the misuse of restraining orders is one of the claims she is alleging against him.

Bedin's lawyers describe Verni as a "savvy, experienced New York City Landlord for over 65 years, currently owning many apartment buildings in Manhattan, Bronx, Connecticut and new development in Harrison with 36 apartments."

In 1976, Bedin moved from Illinois at 21 and became a tenant in Verni’s building on the Upper West Side. The lawsuit claims that 38-year-old Verni kept calling Bedin to "inspect" the apartment. "[Verni] never wore a wedding ring and started to kiss the Plaintiff in her apartment, leading to a long, intimate relationship," the lawsuit claims.

In the ensuing years, Bedin broke up with Verni several times and had two other relationships, but Verni continued to pursue her, despite being married, according to the filing.

Then in 2018, Verni called Bedin and told her his wife had died and asked her out, lawyers contend. She claims Verni then "pressured, cajoled, induced [Bedin] to leave New York City and move in with him at his sprawling mansion of 5,000 sq. ft., located in Westchester.” Although Bedin says she was gainfully employed when they re-established their relationship, Verni "insisted, cajoled, induced [Bedin] to give up her employment, move with him full-time, and no longer be part of the work force."

According to property records, the home the couple shared was sold in July.

Bedin "developed an exciting career very well respected by executives and government leaders, traveling back and forth from New York to Italy," the suit says. From 1991 to 1995, she served as executive director of the New York State Economic Office for Italy and Spain under former Gov. Mario Cuomo. She had a residence in Italy and a residence in New York City (owned by Verni). She served as NYS Foreign Direct Investment Advisor from 2015 through 2018 under the Andrew Cuomo administration.

"Understanding Plaintiff’s illustrious career, and her standard of living at the time, [Verni] promised that he would support Plaintiff at the same level at which she was supporting for herself throughout the years," lawyers wrote in court documents. "After moving in, the relationship changed. [Verni] began to renege on his promise to take care of [Bedin's] financial needs."

Lawyers contend in the lawsuit that Verni "began to exercise control of Plaintiff’s everyday habits and conduct" and "began to speak abusively" to Bedin. She claims in court filings that he became physically threatening, and assaulted her on at least two occasions.

The traded allegations of physical and mental abuse, character assassination and misrepresentation finally came to a head late last year, according to the court filings.

On December 7, 2021, an attorney knocked on the couple’s bedroom door, and requested that Bedin leave Verni’s home within 3 days and told her that if she did not do so, the locks would be changed, according to the suit.