De Niro hurting for dinero

ROBERT De Niro is running out of dinero. The actor claims in court that the coronavirus dealt him a huge financial blow as his estranged wife asked for an emergency order to raise her monthly credit card limit to $100,000.

The “Godfather” star joined a hearing by phone for his Manhattan divorce case with Grace Hightower, as her lawyer told a judge that De Niro unfairly cut her monthly American Express allowance from $100,000 to $50,000 and that she and their children were banned from De Niro’s upstate compound.

But De Niro argues he cut Hightower’s credit limit because he’s taken a huge financial hit as the high-end restaurant Nobu and the luxe Greenwich Hotel, both of which he has stakes in, have been closed for months.

De Niro’s lawyer, Caroline Krauss, told the judge that Nobu lost $3 million in April and $1.87 million in May. The actor had to pay unspecified investors $500,000, which he borrowed, “because he doesn’t have the cash,” Krauss said. Nobu received as much as $27.7 million through 14 taxpayer-backed PPP loans, according to Department of Treasury data.

Krauss bemoaned, “He is going to be lucky if he makes $7.5 million this year,” adding, “In spite of his robust earnings, [he has] always spent more than he has earned so [he] couldn’t retire even if he wanted to, because he can’t afford to keep up with his lifestyle.”

De Niro filed for divorce in December 2018. He’s required to pay Hightower $1 million a year as long as he’s making $15 million. But she thinks he’s worth $500 million and wants half. Her lawyer, Kevin McDonough, fired back, “Mr. De Niro has used the COVID pandemic . . . to stick it to his wife financially.”

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper issued a temporary ruling that De Niro must keep Hightower’s credit card limit at $50,000 a month and pay $75,000 for her to rent a summer home for their two kids, as De Niro and his other children remain in his upstate compound.