Jack Gordon dodges jail, but still in hot water

Bill Gang

Tuesday, June 16, 1998 | 11 a.m.

Jack Gordon -- John Wayne Bobbitt's former manager and LaToya Jackson's ex-husband -- came close to being tossed in jail on contempt-of-court charges but was given one last chance.

Gordon tap danced Monday around allegations that he lied under oath in his court fight against Bobbit's ex-girlfriend, Kristina Elliott. But his fancy footwork couldn't hide the reality that he had concealed some of his assets from the onetime Playboy magazine model who had won a $55,000 court judgment.

"I don't dance," District Judge Gene Porter told Gordon. "I think you are evasive, hiding the ball and I won't put up with it."

Elliott, who appeared in the November 1994 Playboy, claimed in her lawsuit that she received only token payment.

The rest, the lawsuit alleged, was skimmed off by Gordon, her one-time manager, after her signature was forged on a Playboy contract.

Elliott, 25, said she received $27,000 as her two-thirds cut of the $40,000 Playboy pictorial payment, when the actual amount the magazine paid was $125,000.

Her cut should have been more than $85,000 but the money went directly to Gordon and she was given what she was told was her share.

Although she won her court case, Gordon has yet to pay her anything and when he was asked under oath about his assets, he didn't mention owning a New York City apartment building, a car or thousands of dollars in jewelry -- although he mentioned them in divorce court proceedings.

Gordon explained Monday that he was confused or forgot. He told of battling cancer and blamed the strain from that and his contentious divorce from Jackson for the differences in documentation.

Elliott's attorney, Michael McCue, said that in addition to the judgment Gordon should be made to pay more than $24,000 in legal costs incurred while fighting to collect the award. McCue argued that unless Gordon is tossed into jail, he won't be motivated to find the money.

But Porter said he won't do that yet although he vowed to "babysit this case."

He ordered Gordon back into his courtroom in two months and said that by then some steps must be taken to deal with his legal obligation.

"I'm giving you 60 days to show me what kind of man you are," the judge said, hinting that if steps aren't taken he will reconsider McCue's request for jail time.

Gordon said he has minimal assets and no income, prompting Porter to ask him, "Why can't you get a job like the rest of us?"

Elliott, who had been a Las Vegas topless dancer, gained an element of notoriety when she complained that Bobbitt had battered her in September 1994. Her story resulted in the misdemeanor conviction and jailing of Bobbitt, who gained his own notoriety five years ago when his wife cut off his penis.