Jennifer Borg's husband withdraws suit seeking divorce

Image by wallyg via Flickr

New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Garth Wakeford filed and later withdrew a lawsuit seeking a divorce from Jennifer A. Borg, vice president and general counsel of North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record of Woodland Park.

Borg, 45, uses the name Jennifer Borg Wakeford on her Facebook page. 

A color photo on the page shows the couple, with her smiling broadly as he kisses her on the cheek and looks at the camera. 

A Garth Wakeford Web page identifies him as a certified running coach and a former professional rugby player. 

Now, he is a personal trainer and manager at La Palestra in Manhattan, described as a "hybrid between the medical and fitness industry."

Wakeford is from South Africa, where he graduated from Rhodes University with a BA degree in human movement studies.

The suit was filed in 2009 in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, but has been withdrawn, a court spokesman said Friday. Matrimonial cases are not open to the public.

Husband from 'Africa'

Borg spoke of her husband in April, during breaks in the trial of an age-discrimination suit filed against NJMG by Victor E. Sasson, author of Eye on The Record. 

Twice, she said he was from Africa, before noting he is from South Africa.

The couple have been mentioned as guests at parties in The Hamptons on New York Social Diary, a Web site that calls itself "your link to society." 

The Borgs are believed to have a home in East Hampton, and the rear bumper of Jennifer Borg's Range Rover SUV carried an East Hampton resident sticker. 

She lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

The couple have no children, but Jennifer Borg has spoken affectionately of her four nephews, children of Publisher Stephen A. Borg, her younger brother. 


At NJMG, one of her major decisions has been capping severance pay at 12 weeks. 

The ceiling was put into place after the company paid large amounts of severance during an exodus of veteran employees.


She also has ordered close monitoring of company equipment, including computers and telephones.

The irrepressible Jennifer Borg

Place de La Sorbonne in Paris.

Image via Wikipedia

As the chief legal officer of North Jersey Media Group, defendant and witness, Jennifer A. Borg attended every day of the jury trial of my age-discrimination lawsuit. 


Her restrained "good morning" to me contrasted with her uninhibited conversation with NJMG's in-house lawyer, Dina L. Sforza, and its hired gun, Samuel J. Samaro of Pashman Stein in Hackensack.


Borg, 44, talked about children, her nephews and lots of other subjects. Eventually, she started talking to me about her Upper West Side lifestyle, the upscale food stores she patronizes, her husband's visa problems and more.


She asked me if I had a problem getting a visa for my wife after I met her in Jamaica, then recounted the long, expensive legal process of her husband's immigration to the U.S., and recommended the lawyer she used. 


When I asked where her husband is from, she said "Africa" -- twice. Later, she said he's from South Africa (probably not from Soweto). 


During this conversation, it never occurred to her to ask why The Record has never launched a project on the dysfunctional legal immigration system, which is responsible for a lot of illegal immigration. 


I recall telling Projects Editor Tim Nostrand in late 2003 that it took 16 months to get my stepson here from Jamaica and that the federal office in Newark had lost hundreds of files, forcing relatives and immigrants to start over again, and suggested we do series on legal immigration. He advised me to write an op-ed piece.


I knew Jennifer Borg had led a life of privilege before she took the witness stand (you can hear it in her accent). But when I asked her to tell the jury "briefly" about the schools she attended, she rattled off a half-dozen degree and non-degree programs, including law school and "the Sorbonne in Paris." Hearing that, I looked at the jurors, but none reacted visibly. 


At her second deposition, conducted by my attorney, she was unrestrained in condemning my behavior and work performance at The Record, talking on and on in a scolding tone. 


But even though she had sworn to tell the truth, she distorted many things and gave the wrong year for my probationary period -- she said 1985; it was 1995. It was clear she was trying to smear me.


In front of the jury, she was far more restrained. She said she was mistaken about 1985.


Her younger brother, Stephen A. Borg, 41, had testified first. 


After they finished, I felt the jury understood how neither Borg was "minding the store" -- the newsroom. 


I hoped the jurors felt as I did that the Borgs were merely two spoiled siblings working for their multimillionaire father who paid no attention to who was hired and who was promoted, and whether the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing editors -- notably Frank Scandale, Deirdre Sykes and Barbara Jaeger -- were complying with company policy condemning age-discrimination and sexual harassment. 


The younger Borg, NJMG's president and publisher, testified that he never approached me or spoke to Human Resources after he learned I had filed a lawsuit. The employee manual says the president is obligated to investigate any such charges. 


He also testified he did nothing when he received my April 4, 2008, e-mail alleging mistreatment of older workers -- except send it to his big sister for inclusion in a final, written warning given to me April 9, 2008.


Stephen Borg, who wore a suit and tie for his courtroom appearance, also told the jury the only thing experience gets you at The Record is more vacation -- almost exactly what his father said to me many years before.


Company patriarch Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg appeared in the courtroom last Friday, the morning of the verdict. Jennifer Borg wouldn't allow him to answer when I asked what he thought of the photo The Record published the day before, showing a woman making an obscene gesture.


"I don't know when you're Victor Sasson and when you're a blogger," she said. 


Both Jennifer and "Mac" Borg rushed out of the courtroom after the jurors were polled on their  verdict, which rejected my age-discrimination and retaliation claims. 


I didn't get a chance to tell them I am down, but not out.