A 45-year-old married partner at one of Manhattan's most prestigious law firms has been suspended after a TikTok comedian filmed him kissing a 29-year-old associate on a Central Park bench, and the clip spread to millions.
Nathaniel D. Cullerton, a partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, was placed on leave amid an internal investigation after the video surfaced last week, the Daily Mail reported. The woman in the video is Kelsey Borenzweig, a litigation associate at the same firm. She is 29. Cullerton is married, to a former federal prosecutor who helped take down a sex cult.
The fallout has been swift. Cullerton had been among six Wachtell partners expected to move to rival firm Gibson Dunn. That move has now been scrapped, sources familiar with the matter told the Financial Times, which first reported the suspension. Whether Borenzweig faces any disciplinary action remains unclear.
Jay Guapo, a TikTok comedian with 3.5 million followers, filmed the encounter on the western edge of Central Park, roughly 30 blocks south of the Fifth Avenue co-op where Cullerton lives with his wife. The exact date the video was shot has not been established.
In the clip, Guapo can be heard addressing the pair directly.
"Get a room. There's kids watching."
Cullerton responded by telling Guapo to put the phone down. Both Cullerton and Borenzweig attempted to cover the camera, but the footage had already captured enough. Guapo posted it to TikTok last week, where it went viral.
It is unclear when the relationship between Cullerton and Borenzweig began, or whether either disclosed it to the firm's human resources department. Wachtell has not commented publicly. The Daily Mail said it approached the firm for comment but received no response.
Cullerton married Moira Penza in February 2016. Penza, 42, is now a partner at Wilkinson Stekloff, but she built her reputation as a federal prosecutor. She led the government's case against Keith Raniere, the leader of NXIVM, a group that federal prosecutors described as a sex cult. Penza's role in that high-profile prosecution made her a public figure in her own right, she appeared on the HBO documentary series The Vow.
The couple's listed residence is a co-op on an exclusive stretch of Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The contrast between that domestic profile and the Central Park bench footage needs no editorial embellishment.
Cullerton and Borenzweig were not strangers professionally. Both worked on the civil lawsuit Elon Musk filed against Sam Altman, in which Musk claimed Altman broke a founding agreement to keep OpenAI a nonprofit. In May 2026, the two were photographed walking into Oakland Federal Courthouse together during that trial, with Borenzweig a few steps behind Cullerton.
Cullerton earned his law degree from Georgetown University in 2013 and clerked at the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit before joining Wachtell. Borenzweig graduated from New York University School of Law in 2022 and clerked before arriving at the firm. She grew up in Malibu, California, where her family's home is valued at $2.7 million.
As of Wednesday morning, both lawyers' profiles remained active on Wachtell's website. Whether that has since changed is unknown.
Cullerton's expected lateral move to Gibson Dunn, a significant step in Big Law, appears finished. The firm has not confirmed the cancellation, but sources cited by the Financial Times said the move was scrapped in the wake of the video. The status of the other five Wachtell partners who were part of that expected move remains unreported.
Borenzweig, meanwhile, was photographed going for coffee with her parents, Tracy and Matt, at the Crosby Street Hotel in Soho on a recent Saturday morning. Whether she is also under investigation by Wachtell has not been disclosed. The scope of the firm's internal review is unknown.
Professional misconduct scandals have a way of spreading beyond a single institution. Georgia Republicans recently moved to impeach an Obama-appointed judge over sexual misconduct allegations in chambers, a reminder that professional authority carries personal obligations, and that the public increasingly expects accountability when those obligations are violated.
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is one of the most elite law firms in the country. Its partners occupy positions of extraordinary trust, advising on billion-dollar deals, representing clients in landmark litigation, and wielding influence that extends well beyond the courtroom. That trust depends on judgment. And judgment, as Cullerton just demonstrated on a park bench in broad daylight, is not something you can bill by the hour.
