Robert Pressman, a third-generation member of the household that turned Barneys New York right into a designer emporium and New York Metropolis establishment, has filed a lawsuit alleging that his kin evaded hundreds of thousands in taxes by falsely claiming that their late mom lived in Florida.
Pressman declined to remark. His lawyer Randall M. Fox, a companion at Kirby McInerney LLP, stated Thursday, “On this case, we’re searching for in extra of $50 million.”
Pressman is taking motion as “a whistleblower” beneath the New York False Claims Act, which authorizes residents to carry lawsuits to recuperate treble (or triple) damages for fraudulent claims submitted to New York. If the case is profitable and a restoration is made on behalf of the federal government, Pressman could recoup between 15 and 30 p.c, in line with Fox.
Pressman has taken motion towards the property of his late mom Phyllis, the Phyllis Pressman Revocable Belief, the Fiduciary Belief Worldwide of the Southland and his three siblings Eugene [“Gene”] Pressman, Elizabeth Pressman-Neubardt and Nancy Pressman-Dressler. The claims are for earnings taxes and property taxes for Phyllis Pressman, who died on April 16, 2024. The submitting states that from about 2018 till her dying, she was a New York domiciliary, and as such, was required to pay New York state private earnings taxes. As well as, on the time of her dying, her property is a New York resident property, which requires the cost of New York property taxes.
Pressman , who is named “Bob,” claimed that his brother and two sisters together with the belief and its trustee Fiduciary Belief “conspired to falsely declare” that Phyllis Pressman was a Florida resident, and never a New York one. Not like New York, Florida doesn’t have state-level private earnings taxes or property taxes. Bob Pressman alleged that Phyllis Pressman, the belief, the property, and the fiduciary belief “made and used false paperwork, together with tax returns, that asserted that Phyllis Pressman’s major residence was in Florida, and that she was not a New York resident,” within the submitting. By about Could 2021, “she had drawn the three grownup youngsters into her plan, and so they grew to become her understanding accomplices each over the last years of her life and after her dying,” in line with the submitting.
Gene Pressman and his sister Pressman-Neubardt. His different sister Pressman-Dressler deferred remark to her lawyer Laurie Ruckel, managing companion at Loeb & Loeb LLP, who didn’t reply to media requests Thursday afternoon.
Fox stated that primarily based on Phyllis Pressman’s actions and statements, “it was clear that the mansion in Southampton was her everlasting residence. However for tax functions, and clearly that’s what we’re claiming, she indicated that Florida was her everlasting residence, despite the fact that she advised different people who she hated Florida,” he stated.
The siblings have wrangled in court docket on and off by the years. In 1999, Robert Pressman was hit with a $30 million lawsuit that was filed by his sisters. The go well with additionally sought $10 million in punitive damages, with the sisters alleging that he took greater than his share of the household enterprise with out their permission by participating in “self-dealing, misrepresentation and fraud.” In August 2002, New York State Court docket Justice Karla Moskowitz awarded the 2 sisters — Pressman-Neubardt and Pressman-Dressler — $11.3 million, which was comprised of $7.3 million in damages and $4 million in pre-judgment curiosity. Robert Pressman then appealed the choice and countersued, alleging “fraud, self-dealing and unjust enrichment.”
Gene Pressman had additionally served as co-chief govt officer and inventive director at Barneys. Every member of the family pitched in with the household enterprise and have become extra concerned as their dad and mom aged. Beneath Fred Pressman’s management, Barneys expanded from a mom-and-pop menswear store within the Chelsea part of Manhattan into an internationally famend chain with 14 shops and 7 retailers within the U.S. and a quantity of $425 million for the 12 months ended July 1995. The couple and their offspring abided by the mantra “Choose. Don’t settle.” The corporate was began in 1923 by Fred Pressman’s dad and mom Barney and Bertha.
Gene and Robert Pressman throughout their Barneys New York years.
Thomas Iannaccone/WWD
After evolving from a 500-square-foot low cost males’s retailer in Chelsea right into a directional multistore retailer, the corporate expanded past New York with outposts in Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Boston at one level. Within the late Eighties and Nineteen Nineties, Barneys’ 10-story Madison Avenue flagship was the primary attraction, the place celebrities, politicians, New York Metropolis energy gamers, and fashion-loving consumers might be discovered combing by the minimalist-designed retailer or breaking bread on the buzzy restaurant “Fred’s.” In 2019, Barneys filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety. That marked the second time that the slick specialty retailer had filed Chapter 11 with the primary time having taken place in 1999.
Pressman’s submitting described how his mom was an integral a part of the household “that turned the Barneys retail retailer in Manhattan into the luxurious worldwide retailer Barneys New York.” It additionally famous how Pressman’s husband of 47 years, Fred, “led the hassle to develop the enterprise” that was based by his father Barney in 1923 at Seventh Avenue and seventeenth Avenue in Manhattan. The lawsuit credit Phyllis Pressman with participating in that effort by “taking up the duty for the ‘look’ of the shop and growing Barneys’ residence decor, antiques, jewellery, and different luxurious merchandise enterprise with the introduction of ‘Chelsea Passage.’ She was famend for her exacting and extremely developed style and class.”
Gene and Christine Pressman
John Calabrese
Requested if Phyllis Pressman was of sound thoughts later in life, Fox stated, “Maybe, I don’t learn about your entire interval.”
As for whether or not there was some extent the place one other particular person was performing on her behalf on account of her psychological capabilities, Fox stated, “No person has publicly stated [that.]”
In the meantime, Freeman’s | Hindman plans to go ahead with this fall’s 5 gross sales that can characteristic “Property from the Assortment of Phyllis and Fred Pressman.” Jewels from Bulgari, Harry Winston and Van Cleef & Arpels will go beneath the gavel, as will furnishings and artwork from Frederick Carl Frieseke, Edward Henry Potthast and William Merritt Chase, amongst others.
Requested if the most recent Pressman lawsuit will influence these plans, Thomas Brown, a spokesperson for Freeman’s | Hindman, stated Thursday, ”The sale displays the complete and finalized consignment. No objects have been withdrawn thus far.”
As for whom will reap the proceeds from these gross sales of the private Pressman property, the public sale home doesn’t share any particulars about consignors or the allocations of proceeds, Brown stated.
As well as, the seven-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot oceanfront manse on Meadow Lane in Southampton that Phyllis Pressman owned can be up on the market for $38.5 million. That asking value was slashed from the preliminary itemizing of $52 million in 2020. Corcoran’s Tim Davis, the property’s listed agent, had not responded Thursday to a request for remark.
One other one among Phyllis Pressman’s abodes, her former Higher East Facet condo, has been beneath contract for $3.95 million since February. Sotheby’s Worldwide Realty’s dealer Louise Beit had not responded to a media request Thursday.
Fox stated the lawsuit “most likely shouldn’t” influence the Pressman-owned property that’s being bought, “so long as no one is making an attempt to dissipate belongings improperly.”
Fred and Phyllis Pressman
Courtesy Photograph
He added that Robert Pressman’s case is “actually for the advantage of the federal government. The False Claims Act permits a whistleblower to carry a lawsuit on behalf of the federal government and it actually helps the federal government develop its assets…this regulation actually helps the federal government herald more cash that it’s imagined to get which is way fairer for everyone, who follows the principles,” he stated.
Within the midst of this authorized motion, Gene Pressman will launch his e-book “They All Got here to Barneys: A Private Historical past of the World’s Biggest Retailer” in early September. The page-turner has already been optioned by Shiny Penny Productions and 5 All within the Fifth Leisure for a sequence with Beth Schacter on board as its author and Joe Wright serving as its director, as reported by Deadline earlier this week.
