The wife of a NYPD cop at the centre of a corruption probe is a legal tutor who describes herself as a combination of Tony Soprano and a ‘whip cracking’, ‘tough-talking New Yorker’.
Michele Sileo, who is married to James Grant – the cop accused of accepting cash and diamonds in an alleged cash-for-favors scandal, has also tried her shot at the big time by starring in a reality TV show.
On the legal tutoring website Lawyer Up, her personal statement describes her as ‘a fat, hairy, bald man with a filthy mouth and a bad attitude and ‘a life-long tough-talking New Yorker.’
‘In 2002, Michele gave up the lipstick ghetto to form Lawyer Up and to bring her unique blend of whip-cracking and therapy to law students nationwide,’ the statement continues.
Ms Sileo and her business partner starred in reality TV show ‘Staten Island Law’ on Oprah’s OWN Network in 2013, but it never gained a following and was soon cancelled.
The show followed the women as they mediated disputes in State Island.
Along with three other senior NYC police officials her husband is being investigated by the FBI into whether officers took free trips, meals and other perks.
Grant allegedly told friends ‘I’m f****d, I can’t go to jail,’ when he heard he was under investigation.
He has been stripped of his gun and badge, been placed on desk duty and ‘transferred’ from his command of the 19th Precinct in Manhattan.
The corruption investigation by the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau began in 2013.
In early 2014 the FBI and Department of Justice became involved in the inquiry and the potential issues include violations of NYPD rules and policy, city conflict of interest rules and federal criminal laws.
Federal investigators have questioned nearly two dozen officers in the probe on whether they took gifts from two politically connected businessmen and members of Brooklyn’s Orthodox Jewish community in exchange for favors.
The official didn’t know the nature of the favors the police were suspected of trading.
The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
No one has been charged criminally.
