Jeffrey Epstein was released from a Florida prison last week for soliciting underage girls for sex, which means he is now free to pursue the "philanthropic endeavors" that his lawyer says he's been eager to get back to. What these good deeds will consist of isn't clear, but perhaps one item on the agenda will be focusing his attention on "exonerating the wrongfully convicted" and "reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice"?

Former Mayor Ed Koch returned home Sunday after spending six weeks in the hospital, where he had a heart valve replaced and his gallbladder removed. And while his medical troubles have left him weak and looking a bit gaunt, he says he can now eat whatever he wants (Peking duck, ice cream), and is planning to return to his various media-related gigs (Bloomberg Radio, NY1) shortly. But it's especially nice that his tendency to speak his mind was not affected by his recent illnesses. On the subject of those elected officials in New Jersey who were implicated in that big corruption scandal last week: "I hope that those who are found guilty are hung by the thumb." Welcome home, Mr. Mayor. [NYDN]

Olivia Palermo sipping a drink in the Village ... Keri Russell pushing son River in a stroller in Brooklyn ... Michelle Trachtenberg shopping with a friend in SoHo ... Rihanna grabbing a bite at the Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery around Herald Square ... Diane Keaton shooting scenes for Morning Glory in Battery Park ... Hugh Jackman carrying son Oscar on his back in SoHo ... Katy Perry flipping off photographers in front of the Standard Hotel ... Blake Lively walking to the Gossip Girl set in Midtown ... Robert Pattinson hugging a fan at JFK ... Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon posing for pictures in Tribeca ... and Russell Brand walking in SoHo with an unidentified female.

This has been a rough year for the Plaza what with the high-priced apartments that haven't been selling, retail space that hasn't been renting, and the bitter lawsuits that have landed the iconic building in the public eye. Further proof that the Plaza just can't catch a break? A taxi exploded in front of the building yesterday, "sending flames shooting 10 feet into the air as people strolling through the jampacked block near Fifth Avenue and Central Park ducked for cover." [NYP, previously]

The majority of New Yorkers still don't know who Bill Thompson is. (If you happen to be one of them, he's New York City's comptroller and Bloomberg's leading rival in the race for mayor this fall.) But the fact that most NYC residents don't know the first thing about Thompson doesn't appear to be hurting his poll numbers. In a hypothetical matchup between the two men, Bloomberg leads Thompson by 47 to 37 percent, according to Quinnipiac, although a month ago, Bloomberg was beating Thompson by 54 to 32 percent. [NYT/City Room]

• Developer Charles Yassky has put his townhouse back on the market—and he's looking for $2 million more than he was seeking last fall. Yassky purchased 122 East 78th Street in mid-2008 for $13.2 million. He put it back on the market with Paula Del Nunzio just two weeks later for $18.9 million, before dropping the price to $16.9 million in November and eventually taking it off the market altogether in April. The 36-foot-wide manse has returned to the market with broker Carrie Chiang for $18.9 million. [Cityfile, Corcoran]
• Roberta Campbell, the wife of former Intuit CEO William Campbell, has paid $17.5 million for an 11th-floor condo at 15 Central Park West. Campbell bought the apartment from Paula Lascano, who paid $14.2 million for the four-bedroom pad in March 2008. [Real Deal]

Model, DJ, and rock star spawn Alexandra Richards turns 23 today. Former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley is turning 66. Famed television exec (and NBC Sports chairman) Dick Ebersol is 62. Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, is 58. Alexis Arquette is turning 40. The rapper Soulja Boy is 19. Sally Struthers is turning 61. Garfield creator Jim Davis turns 64. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is 55. And Elizabeth Berkley, she of Saved by the Bell and Showgirls fame, celebrates her 37th birthday today.

• Remember when Bethenny Frankel announced a few weeks ago that she was engaged to "a real estate bigwig" named Jason Hoppy? According to one "insider," the engagement may be a big publicity stunt, and Hoppy may be a "medical sales rep/personal trainer," not some property-owning master of the universe. [Fox News]
• A treasure trove of Madonna memorabilia, collected by one of her long lost ex-boyfriends, is going up for auction. Yes, 17 minutes of "erotic phone messages" could soon be yours. [P6, NYDN]
• Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush have broken up. Tragic! [People]
• It looks like Dr. Conrad Murray gave Michael Jackson a dose of the powerful anesthetic propofol right before his death and that was what killed him. And it looks like Murray could face manslaughter charges because of it. [TMZ, NYDN]
• Mischa Baron says she's feeling better and is ready to go back to work. [Us]

Meet Kenya Mejia, this year's valedictorian at Alexander Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. If her remarks at last month's graduation ceremony strike you as a bit forced, there's a good reason for that. Mejia may be the first high school student in history to insert a product placement into a graduation speech, a plug for the romantic comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper for which Twentieth Century Fox paid her $1,800.

Remember Andrés Piedrahita, the Colombian-born employee/son-in-law of Walter Noel? The guy who traveled the globe in search of wealthy investors, who he convinced to invest in Fairfield Greenwich, the hedge fund that lost an estimated $7 billion to Bernie Madoff? Although you might think he'd be hiding in a cave these days, he's actually having a lovely summer. Because according to Vicky Ward, Piedrahita just took possession of a brand new, custom-built $30 million yacht: "He is now cruising the Adriatic with wife Corina Noel and their children. I am told he has plans to cruise around the Dalmatian coast and Corfu." [HuffPo]

• The latest ad campaign for Chanel handbags, shot by Karl Lagerfeld himself, features a very Holly Golightly-looking Lily Allen. [Pipeline, Cut]
• A new front-runner has emerged to possibly take over struggling Christian Lacroix. This time it's Italian retail giant Borletti. [WWD, AFP]
• More trouble for American Apparel and its founder Dov Charney? An anonymous store manager reports Charney has been busy firing employees "he deems unattractive." [Gawker]
• Amber Valletta is the latest supermodel to launch a clothing line. [Cut]

• David Burke's chauffeur is accusing the chef of "punching him in the face and slamming a car-trunk hood on his head" after he asked to take time off for his wife's birthday. Burke faces six months in prison if convicted. [NYP]
• Beatrice Inn's chances of reopening? Slim to none, it seems. [P6]
• It looks like it's the end of the line for Jeffrey Chodorow's Ono. [GS]
• A roundup of places that just opened, or will be open later this week. [Eater]
• A roundup of what will be new in the meatpacking district this fall. [GS]
• The Hamptons scene is a little less decadent this year. Surprise! [NYP]
• The ice cream of the future isn't cold and doesn't melt, apparently. [NYM]
• Coke is testing out a new carbonated milk drink called "Vio." [Fox News]
• Try to block this out when you go out to eat later, but an audit of restaurant inspections finds that 22% of city eateries weren't inspected last year. [NYDN]

Michael Lohan has been out and about in the Hamptons, squiring his new BFF, Jon Gosselin, around town and telling reporters what a fantastic guy he is. Dina Lohan's been busy complaining to the tabloids that her ex-husband is behind on his child support payments. And what's Lindsay Lohan up to?

If you're sick of paying for parking—or paying the city for those $105 parking tickets you've been getting—you may want to consider investing in a color printer and a laminating machine. Transportation Alternatives, the advocacy group that promotes bike-riding and mass transit, tested out the city's crackdown on parking permits last week with a totally bogus one they created bearing the seal of the official-sounding (and non-existent) "Citizen Protection Administration." It worked like a charm: Not a single ticket was issued. [NYP]

WWD has gotten to the bottom of that lawsuit filed by Condé Nast against the Turks and Caicos last Friday. It seems the archipelago paid for a bunch of ads in a handful of Condé titles in 2007 and 2008, but then never paid its $1 million tab. It also seems the ads played a role in a corruption scandal earlier this year:

• After two very unsuccessful years as co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, Ben Silverman is finally leaving the company. He's teaming up with Barry Diller's IAC to start some sort of vague media/advertising firm. He'll be replaced by Jeff Gaspin, who headed up NBC's cable unit until now. [NYT, NYT, DF]
• Disney's G-Force topped Harry Potter at the box office this weekend. [THR]
• Remember Friendster? It's up for sale, in case you're interested. [PC]
• HBO is the most "gay-friendly cable network," according to GLAAD. [Reuters]

"Sir" Allen Stanford, the Texas financier accused of masterminding a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, has been behind bars for about a month now. And he's not happy. His lawyer has asked a judge to transfer him to a new prison because the facility he currently calls home doesn't have air conditioning and the atmosphere is "oppressive" and "intolerable." [NYP]

In this week's issue of New York, Joe Hagan pens a long piece about Goldman Sachs, "America's most successful, cynical, envied, despised, and (in its view, anyway) misunderstood engine of capitalism." But if you were thinking that the last year of turmoil—or the unprecedented blow to Goldman's reputation in recent months—has changed things at the storied firm, well, you needn't worry:

Beyonce walking into Ricky's to do a little shopping ... Anne Hathaway and boyfriend Adam Shulman talking a walk in the East Village ... Jennifer Aniston eating a salad on the set of The Bounty ... Rihanna and Katy Perry eating dinner at Philippe ... Demi Lovato getting out of an SUV in front of her hotel ... Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony walking in the West Village, and later posing for photos outside J.Lo's birthday party ... Julia Roberts leaving her trailer on the set of her new movie downtown ... Freida Pinto walking back to her hotel after dinner with Dev Patel ... Agyness Deyn walking under an umbrella with a friend ... Kate Hudson sitting with son Ryder and Alex Rodriguez's daughter Natasha at the Yankees game ... Rachel McAdams filming scenes for Morning Glory ... and Jon Gosselin hanging out with Michael Lohan and Lohan's girlfriend in the Hamptons.

Merce Cunningham, the choreographer "routinely hailed as the world's greatest," died last night. He was 90. [NYT]