MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — A wealthy Upper East Side man who reportedly earned $16 million in a settlement after losing his leg in a cop car accident has been convicted of assaulting an ex-stripper outside an Upper East Side restaurant last year.
The one-time Private Eyes dancer, Sophia Kandelaki, 37, testified Tuesday that she was arguing with the alleged attacker, Thomas Hartmann, 42, outside a restaurant when he took offense to a remark she made and swung at her on April 11, 2011, about 1:30 a.m.
The incident allegedly occurred across the street the Italian eatery Baraonda on Second Avenue at East 75th Street, near Hartmann's home, where the two met for the first time that evening.
Prosecutors showed the jury a graphic photo of a gaping gash on Kandelaki's face with a large cut that required 10 stitches. They said she fell to the ground, bleeding from the head after the punch.
"He turns around fast, and this hand... boom, like that on my head," Kandelaki, a native of the Republic of Georgia, told jurors.
She testified that Hartmann flew into a rage when Kandelaki commented she would never hook up with him.
Hartmann was convicted by a jury after less than a day of deliberations.
But Hartmann's attorney, Joseph Tacopina, argued that the swing was an accident. He said his client, who is disabled and has a prosthetic leg, was swinging his arm to try to regain balance while stumbling backward. His thick gold watch may have caused the contusion on her face, he said.
The lawyer argued that his client fell backward while trying to move away from Kandelaki, who Hartmann believed was reaching for a wad of money in his pocket.
Hartmann, who now drives a Bentley, reportedly won the large payout in a civil settlement after a Nassau County police officer mowed him over during a chase. They had been trying to arrest him following a dispute with his wife, the Daily News reported.
Kandelaki testified that she also worked at Flashdancers in Midtown and several clubs in New Jersey. She was arrested for prostitution in the past but pled guilty to a lesser crime, she said. She also testified that she gave "tantric massages" for money but denied having sex for cash.
In closing arguments Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Julie Pasquale said Kandelaki's career had no bearing on the case while arguing that the punch was clearly intentional.
"It was too forceful of a blow not to have been done on purpose," the Pasquale said.
Hartmann, a wealthy businessman who was a regular at Baraonda, faces up to a year in jail if convicted.
The jury began deliberations Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court. Hartmann is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 7.
