BLOWOUT: Finance exec Marc Leder gave $10,000 to charity in a deal that let him sidestep permit rules for a July 4th party at his Water Mill summer house. (
)
It’s not whom you know in the Hamptons — it’s whom you pay off.
Faced with a permit hassle for his bawdy Fourth of July blowout, banker Marc Leder cut a $10,000 check to Southampton Town officials for a charitable cause so the party could go on, The Post has learned.
“It’s just legal bribery,” said one angry resident who has called code-enforcement officials on Leder’s bacchanals in the past. “You can dress it up however you want.”
The Sun Capital honcho, whose X-rated Water Mill parties infuriate his neighbors, was slapped with a stop-work order by Southampton Town officials on Tuesday after erecting a mammoth party tent at the Bay Lane property without a permit.
Desperate to pull off the July 4 event, an underling headed straight for the offices of Hamptons lawyer Eddie Burke Jr. and quickly agreed to a $20,000 retainer, sources said.
With time slipping away, Burke — who recently represented new Nets coach Jason Kidd in a Hamptons DWI case — negotiated a deal with Southampton Town attorneys that allowed the tent to stay up and the party to go on.
Burke told The Post that Leder placed $50,000 into an escrow account to serve as an insurance policy against any possible code violations at the party — and greased the wheels with an additional $10,000 donation to a local Southampton charity.
“As is typical with a special-event application, the town does seek contributions to a local charitable organization,” Burke told The Post.
But the pricey quick fix enraged Leder’s neighbors, who have been seeking to shut down his parties, which they say blare music at all hours and clog up traffic.
“It’s $80,000 in extortion for a permit!” raged one resident of the deal. “F–k all the neighbors that pay $80,000 a year in taxes!”
Guests of the bashes at Leder’s $900,000 summer rental home have reported rampant nudity and public sex acts.
The Boca Raton, Fla.-based private-equity titan has been hosting ragers every Saturday night this summer and “75 percent of all guests are young women in bikinis,” a recent attendee told The Post.
Leder’s July 4 party was a hit — but, as expected, he ignored a music curfew and was given a violation, a source said.
He also owes the town money for a violation from a previous party, which will be extracted from the $50,000 escrow account.
Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst admitted Hamptons municipalities routinely request charity donations for special permits but said the lights are about to go out on Leder’s legendary blowouts.
Holst said that Leder will not be allowed to apply for any more party permits from the town and that the Fourth of July jamboree was his swan song.