CY’S CASH FLOW

Gets & returns $19G from pal of club big eyed in sex cases

MANHATTAN DISTRICT Attorney Cy Vance Jr. accepted nearly $19,000 in campaign contributions from a nightlife mogul whose business partner was once investigated over sex assault allegations.

And then Vance returned the money six months later.

Mark Birnbaum, the operator of celebrity-studded clubs, was accused in 2011 of being a “sexual predator” who assaulted and harassed four women who worked at his Manhattan nightspots Tenjune and Simyone Lounge.

The four workers filed a lawsuit against Birnbaum in the spring of that year, accusing him of groping one, forcing one to touch his penis and pleasuring himself in front of two of them on different occasions.

At least two of the employees also tried to pursue criminal charges with the Manhattan DA’s office, but investigators never brought a case against Birnbaum, according to sources.

Birnbaum could not be reached for comment, but at the time he denied the allegations in legal filings responding to the lawsuit.

A year after the employees filed the lawsuit in May 2011 detailing the accusations against Birnbaum, Vance (right) held a campaign event at the mogul’s West Village restaurant Catch. It’s not clear whether Vance or his campaign knew about the lawsuit against Birnbaum before the event at Catch

Eugene Remm, Birnbaum’s partner in the restaurant and his other clubs, picked up the tab for the Vance event on June 19, 2012. The DA’s campaign recorded that Remm made an in-kind contribution of $18,291 by paying for the space at Catch.

Remm made another $500 donation to Vance on Oct. 5, 2012.

But on Jan. 11, 2013, Vance’s campaign refunded both the $500 donation and the $18,291 in-kind contribution.

Remm did not respond to questions about why the donations were made and later returned.

Steve Sigmund, a spokesman for Vance’s campaign, said Dara Freed, a DA fundraiser who knew Remm, first reached out to the club mogul to suggest that he host an event at Catch for young professionals. Remm agreed, Sigmund said.

The spokesman said he didn’t know why Remm’s donations were returned.

“The campaign doesn’t know why contributions are flagged by the DA’s office and recommended for return, nor would it be appropriate to know,” Sigmund said in a statement. “Mr. Remm’s contributions were reimbursed and returned via a strong vetting process that goes above and beyond state law.”

Joan Vollero, a spokeswoman for the DA’s office, declined to comment on the lawsuit against Birnbaum — which was settled in 2014 — or whether DA investigators looked into the employees’ allegations.

Vollero said that since 2010 a senior member of the DA’s office has been charged with assessing any potential conflicts of interest with contributions and criminal investigations. If there is a possible conflict, the senior member notifies the campaign to refund the donation, she said.

Vance has been under fire in the past two weeks over his decision to drop a criminal inquiry into President Trump’s children Ivanka and Donald Jr. who were accused of duping prospective buyers at the Trump SoHo development.

Trump’s personal attorney donated $31,993 to Vance a few months after the probe ended. The DA returned the money after reporters working on a joint project for WNYC, ProPublica and The New Yorker asked about the donation.

Vance has also been feeling the heat for declining to bring charges against disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein, who was secretly recorded by Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez and the NYPD making admissions about a 2015 groping. Weinstein’s attorneys also donated to Vance.

Vance said there wasn’t enough evidence to prove intent, so his office didn’t pursue charges against Weinstein.

The DA wrote in the Daily News on Sunday that he has asked a good government group to conduct a review of how his office handles contributions. He said he will not accept donations until that threemonth review is complete.

Vance is running for re-election next month .