Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- A former assistant who sued the founder of New York private-equity firm Caxton-Iseman Capital Inc. for harassment pleaded guilty to stealing more than $45,000 from him.

Fatima Monahan, 36, who earned $125,000 a year, admitted today to using Frederick Iseman's credit card and was ordered to pay $45,000 in restitution. New York State Supreme Court Justice James Yates agreed to sentence her to five years of probation on Sept. 12.

Monahan filed a $24 million sexual-harassment lawsuit in April last year against Caxton-Iseman and its founder and managing partner. In June, Iseman filed a counterclaim, saying the lawsuit was a way to deflect attention from her crimes.

``She brought a salacious lawsuit against me and my firm solely to deflect attention from her criminal misdeeds and to attempt to embarrass me into paying her off,'' Iseman said today in a statement through his spokesman, Howard Rubenstein.

Monahan purchased high-end clothing, shoes, food, household items and gift cards for Bergdorf Goodman, mostly over the Internet, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said in a statement today. She also used Iseman's Mercedes-Benz without permission, Morganthau said earlier.

Civil Suit

``She simply wants to put this behind her and go on with her life,'' said Monahan's lawyer, Charles Ross.

Monahan, who lives in North Arlington, New Jersey, worked for Iseman from August 2005 to November 2006, according to Morgenthau. She scheduled personal and professional appointments, ran errands and prepared checks for personal bills. She used his credit card for her personal expenses from June to November 2006.

In her civil suit, Monahan alleges Iseman sexually harassed her. She claims he told her of intimate acts he had with several women, directed her to make inappropriate purchases, required her to organize his collection of explicit pictures, and to purchase a book titled ``The Mammoth Book of Erotic Fantasies'' and deliver it to his apartment, according to the civil filing.

``Her felony record now stands as conclusive evidence of her dishonesty and duplicity,'' Iseman said in the statement. ``That guilty plea and her felony record are the ultimate repudiation of her disgusting lies.''

In his counterclaim, Iseman charges that Monahan made more than $50,000 in unauthorized credit card purchases and forged 53 checks valued at $150,000.

Monahan's guilty plea ``doesn't affect the civil suit in any way,'' Yates said today.

Caxton-Iseman, based in New York, targets takeovers worth $200 million to $2 billion. Its parent is Caxton Associates LLC, a hedge fund firm run by investor Bruce Kovner, which manages more than $11 billion.

The case is People v. Monahan, 06043/2007, New York State Supreme Court (Manhattan). The civil case is Monahan v. Caxton- Iseman 105031/2007.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lindsay Fortado at New York federal court at lfortado@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 20, 2008 12:12 EDT