A jilted inheritor to the fallen Barneys luxurious dynasty has accused his late mom and siblings of orchestrating an elaborate tax fraud scheme that allegedly cheated New York state out of $20 million, The Publish has realized.
Bob Pressman – the 71-year-old grandson of Barney Pressman, who based the now-defunct retail icon in 1923 – alleges in an explosive lawsuit that his household conspired to keep away from New York state revenue and property taxes by falsely claiming that his mom Phyllis Pressman resided in West Palm Seaside, Fla.
The truth is, the widow of retail legend Fred Pressman – who famously reworked his father Barney’s males’s swimsuit enterprise right into a luxurious empire within the Sixties – had been dwelling year-round in her oceanfront mansion in Southampton, NY for the final six years of her life, the swimsuit claims.
“Phyllis Pressman freely instructed the folks round her that she didn’t like Florida and didn’t intend to make it her everlasting house,” the grievance alleges.
The property of Phyllis Pressman – who died final 12 months at 95 and who, in line with the swimsuit, “was famend for her exacting and extremely developed style and class” – is claimed to be price upwards of $100 million, in line with a supply near the case.
That features the 2.3-acre, oceanfront unfold at 346 Meadow Ln. in Southampton that’s at present on the block for $38.5 million. Her swanky Higher East Aspect condo, listed for $3.95 million, is in contract.
Among the late matriarch’s jewellery and paintings are additionally slated for public sale this fall by Freemans’-Hindman. They may embrace items from Bulgari, Harry Winston, and Van Cleef & Arpels, and work by American artists Frederick Carl Frieseke, Edward Henry Potthast, William Merrett Chase, and Robert Reid.
As completely reported by The Publish, Bob Pressman had beforehand labored on an as-yet-unpublished manuscript for an incendiary tell-all e book that blamed his household for Barney’s demise.
Pressman was reduce out of his mom’s will after years of household squabbling, capped by his refusal to take part within the alleged tax fraud, in line with a supply near the case. A belief settlement drawn up by Phyllis’s attorneys declared, “Bob doesn’t get something for causes he properly is aware of,” a supply near the case instructed The Publish.
Bob’s sisters, Elizabeth and Nancy, who had been patrons for Barneys, sued him a number of years after the retailer’s 1996 chapter, accusing him of dishonest them out of $30 million from the enterprise. Bob, who was answerable for the corporate’s funds on the time, denied the allegations.
“The Pressman sisters are attempting to reinvent points which were totally reviewed, and resolved or dismissed along side the Barneys Inc. Chapter 11 case confirmed by the chapter court docket over six months in the past,” Bob Pressman stated in a press release on the time. “They merely don’t like that consequence,” he added.
A New York choose awarded the sisters $11.3 million in 2002. Their brother appealed the award.
In the meantime, Bob’s tell-all manuscript accuses his brother Eugene Pressman – higher often known as Gene – of working Barneys into the bottom with lavish spending initiatives, at the same time as he allegedly spent his time partying by means of the Eighties at Studio 54.
On the time, Gene fired again, accusing his brother of getting “an informal relationship with the reality” and claiming, “Bob conveniently forgets he was the truth is the co-CEO liable for the monetary stability of agency, a task wherein by all measures he massively failed.”
The e book proposal, in contrast, claims that Bob “argued along with his household on a regular basis when the Barney’s New York Madison Avenue retailer was being constructed,” protesting the large tab that was being run up.
Bob’s new lawsuit – which is just coming to gentle now after a choose unsealed it final week – claims that the allegedly tax-cheating members of the Pressman household could possibly be answerable for upwards of $50 million in again taxes and penalties.
An amended grievance filed in New York State Supreme Courtroom in September lists Bob Pressman as a whistleblower below the New York False Claims Act, which may entitle him as much as 30% of any restoration. He filed his authentic grievance final July.
In accordance with the swimsuit, Phyllis initially moved to West Palm Seaside in 2000 – 4 years after her husband Fred died – when she married her second husband, philanthropist Joseph Gurwin.
Gurwin, whose fortune got here from navy gear together with fuel masks and bulletproof vests, died in 2009. Phyllis continued to reside in Palm Seaside till 2018, when she moved again to New York full-time, in line with the swimsuit.
In mid-2021, Phyllis Pressman “efficiently recruited” her youngsters, Gene, Elizabeth, and Nancy, to falsely assert that she lived a lot of the 12 months in Palm Seaside” in her property’s authorized paperwork – after Bob had refused to take action, in line with the grievance.
As a part of the alleged scheme, Gene, Elizabeth and Nancy in late 2023 – just some months earlier than Phyllis died – helped transfer their mom to hospice care in Palm Seaside “when she was sick and mustn’t have been touring,” at the same time as they transferred the Hamptons mansion to a restricted legal responsibility firm, in line with the swimsuit.
Because of this, the three siblings “all elevated the dimensions of their inheritance from Phyllis Pressman as a result of they helped the Property keep away from the New York property taxes that it was obligated to pay,” the swimsuit claims.
As proof of Phyllis’s New York residency from 2018 on, the grievance alleges that she had her prescriptions stuffed at an area Southampton pharmacy, frequently used the landline at her oceanfront house, and employed two aides on the home.
Bob Pressman declined to touch upon the grievance, as did his sisters Elizabeth and Nancy. Gene Pressman didn’t reply to calls and emails requesting remark.
The siblings had been notified in regards to the lawsuit inside the previous couple of weeks, Bob Pressman’s legal professional Randall Fox instructed The Publish.
If profitable, it could be among the many high 5 such circumstances introduced in New York.
The Empire state has recovered $674 million from deadbeat filers since 2010 when it established the Taxpayer Safety Bureau, of which Fox was the founding bureau chief.
The biggest particular person settlement below the False Claims Act was for $105 million, which was paid in 2021 by Swedish hedge fund supervisor Thomas Sandell.
He allegedly arrange a shell workplace in Boca Raton, Fla. to keep away from paying taxes on his NYC enterprise, in line with the New York Legal professional Common’s workplace. Sandell didn’t admit wrongdoing.
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