Bethenny Frankel showed off her new man last week, a hunky muscle-bound guy, on the beach in Miami. It was both a photo op for Bethenny, she loves bikini photo ops, and a chance to stick it to her ex. Bethenny is still involved in a contentious divorce and custody battle with her ex, Jason Hoppy, who still shares her New York City apartment. Neither Bethenny nor Jason is willing to concede defeat and find another place to live.

So Bethenny wanted to prove how carefree and happy she is, and she may have done just that. Only the press has uncovered details of the guy’s past, and it’s not flattering. He’s Michael Cerussi III, he’s 34 and he works in the financial industry. He was also accused of rape while he was in college, in 2000. The charges were eventually dismissed in 2003. What’s more is that Cerussi is known as a player and his friends call him “American Psycho” after the rich, womanizing murderer that Christian Bale played. Friends of Cerussi think he’s using Bethenny to get famous. Here’s more, from Star Magazine:

“He has no intention of actually committing to Bethenny; that’s not who is is,” a close insider says of the successful financier. “Michael has more money and women than he knows what to do with, but one thing he doesn’t have is fame – and he knows Bethenny can give him that.”

While dating Bethenny, 43, has made the wealthy playboy instantly famous, it’s also dredging up his past – much to Michael’s displeasure. According to court documents, in November 2000, while a senior at Union College in upstate New York, Michael and a fraternity brother met a coed at a local bar, and both men had sex with her after bringing her to their fraternity house. The girl then claimed to the school’s disciplinary board that the two men had raped her.

The girl never contacted the police, but both Michael – who admitted to having consensual sex with the coed – and his frat brother were found guilty during a school hearing and expelled. Afterward, Michael brought a lawsuit against the girl, the school and its disciplinary board, claiming they had defamed him and asking to be reinstated at the school.

“Claims were made to the school, which were false and unfounded and ultimately withdrawn,” Michael recently told a news outlet. According to court documents obtained by Star, his lawsuit was dismissed in January 2003, a month after his attorney told the court that the parties were “diligently negotiating” a settlement of the case.

Ironically, Michael’s pals have nicknamed him American Psycho, because his lifestyle resembles that of Christian Bale’s egomaniacal, womanizing character in the film of the same name (minus the homicidal tendencies, of course). “All Mac cares about is wild parties and seducing women,” says the pal. “He goes out three to four nights a week and works out at the gym six days a week. Everything about him screams luxury, from his expensive clothes, his facial cream and haircuts to his car and property.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, January 20, 2014]

The Star article is well worth reading for more, including details of how Bethenny met Cerussi, at a bar, and how she had a rival for his affections at the same time. The way their witness describes it, Bethenny was all over the guy and acting territorial while he was flirting up a storm with another woman.

Meanwhile In Touch has a similar story, claiming that “Mac” is “loving the attention he’s getting for dating Bethenny.”

I hope that this guy isn’t a rapist for a Bethenny’s sake. But I really wouldn’t care much if he has no intention of getting serious and is just using her to get famous. Isn’t she using him, in a way, too?

In related news, Bethenny’s failing talk show has been inexplicably renewed for another season. Producers are said to be switching up the format so it’s more “conflict-oriented” and more like Maury or Jerry Springer. It looks like all that controversy paid off for Bethenny.

Maybe Bethenny brought Cerussi to Miami for just that reason: she knew the press would dig into his past. The NY Daily News claims that Bethenny’s publicist made calls on Cerussi’s behalf. “After pictures of Frankel and Cerussi emerged after New Year’s Eve, Frankel got her hired guns on the case, with her publicist making the rounds of calls on Cerussi’s behalf, a source tells us.” So was Bethenny trying to protect Michael after the rape accusations were made public, or was she trying to get the word out that she had a new man?

Bethenny is shown in NYC on 1-8 (look at those boots!) and in Miami on 1-1-14. Credit: FameFlynet