SHERMAN OAKS—Businessman and former “Millionaire Matchmaker” contestant Michael Leslie Bernback, 62, was arrested on Thursday, September 3 and charged with sexually assaulting three women at his Sherman Oaks home.
Bernback is scheduled to be arraigned on September 28 in the Van Nuys Branch of Los Angeles County Superior Court. The millionaire has been charged with eight felonies that include: one count each of sexual penetration by a foreign object; attempted sodomy by use of force; forcible rape; forcible oral copulation; rape by use of drugs; rape of unconscious person and two counts of administering drug to commit rape, says Deputy District Attorney Matthew Vodnoy.
Bernbeck has also been charged with three misdemeanor counts of possessing MDMA (ecstasy), GHB and cocaine.
According to a press release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, allegations against the the millionaire consist of one victim being given a controlled substance while another was tied and bound during the assault.
Bernback met the women, who are all in their 20s, online, say investigators. The assaults took place on March 23, 2013, September 27, 2014 and August 11, 2015.
Bernback was arrested on August 13 and released on bail at $300,000. He was taken into custody again on September 3 after his bail was increased to $2.1 million.
Police arrived at Bernback’s Sherman Oaks home early morning and proceeded to break down his security gate and front door before detaining the Brooklyn native, who was only wearing a robe and slippers at the time, said CBSLA at the time of the recent arrest.
He was booked at LAPD Van Nuys Station at 7 a.m., Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office Public information Officer Ricardo Santiago told Canyon News.
When Bernback appeared on an episode of Bravo’s “Millionaire Matchmaker” in 2011, he told host Patti Stanger that he owned 10 homes and his net worth was “north of $8 million.” Stanger took to the Bravo blog to describe her client as “a Jewish douchebag” who was on the hunt for a young “baby breeder.”
Bernback owns a golf pro shop in Encino and is an aspiring songwriter/musician. He has also claimed on his personal website that he was one of the co-founders of the Chippendale’s, but one of the original founders told CBSLA that this statement was false.
Bernback’s criminal history includes drug possession and battery, say authorities.
If convicted, Bernback faces a maximum sentence of multiple life terms in state prison.
Anyone with further information regarding the case is asked to contact the LAPD Van Nuys Community Police Station at (818) 374-9500.
