[Liz]

Todd Eberhard, who appeared regularly as a guest on CNN and CNNfn during the late 1990s, doled out $1.55 million in hush money .....

Another CNN disaster. Boy, they sure can pick 'em.

[Restorer]

Is it illegal to pay someone not to tell your wife about you screwing around? What would the charge be?

Unless he was using client funds or something?

[Timesink]

You accidentally left off the bottom half of the story (that stupid ad on the Post's web page made it hard to see):

The new court papers say that in January 2002, Eberhard was approached by his bookkeeper Brian Mercier, 36, who told him another employee would reveal his shady dealings to the police and tell Eberhard's wife, Kristen, about his "multiple intimate relationships" unless he coughed up a large sum of money.

Mercier, who has pleaded guilty to the shakedown, also showed him a bound book of his e-mails to lovers, which he and the other employee had entitled, "My True Life."

A third employee, who was not named, obtained the $750,000 from Eberhard in monthly installments of $53,000.

"In order to conceal the true nature of these payments . . . Eberhard signed a severance agreement" with the third employee, the court papers say.

The hush money payments were allegedly made through the proceeds of Eberhard's fraudulent business practices.

Prosecutors accuse Eberhard, who has homes in Manhattan and Dutchess County, of churning his client's accounts to create large commissions for himself.