Barneys heir plans explosive tell-all book about retailer’s demise

An heir to the fallen Barneys luxury empire plans to create an explosive notify-all reserve about the retail icon’s demise, sources reported — and he’s pointing the finger at the relaxation of his loved ones.

Bob Pressman — whose grandfather Barney Pressman started the now-defunct chain in 1923 — is in talks with publishers to dish on his aged mother and siblings in a sensational expose that chronicles the family’s excesses and recounts how it misplaced control of the business, The Article has learned.

In accordance to an incendiary, two-site proposal for the reserve received by The Post, Fred Pressman — who famously engineered the transformation of his father’s men’s match business into a luxury mecca in the 1960s — was “a excellent and form person” who “was quite shut with his parents” and who “worked 7 times a week.”

The proposal also goes on to claim, nonetheless, that Fred Pressman “had a extremely very long affair with a nicely-known Parisian girl. Fred set up a company workplace in Paris for Barneys New York … which produced the affair in Paris handy and the repeated visits to France uncomplicated to justify.”

Fred Pressman’s spouse Phyllis “found out about the affair but never ever informed Fred to keep away from any interruption of her glamorous way of living or Fred’s hard cash movement continuing to stream to her,” the proposal statements.

Bob Pressman, who declined to remark on the proposal when contacted by The Publish, has “been sitting down on these mad tales for 50 years” and is “fed up with hiding the reality about his relatives,” according to a resource shut to the situation. He is 67 and semi-retired now from Triton Equity Associates LLC — a retail investment organization, in accordance to its LinkedIn page. He life in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Phyllis Pressman — who not too long ago mentioned the Hamptons beach front property she and her late husband constructed 40 decades in the past for $52.5 million — will be a primary focus on of the e book, according to the proposal. Fred Pressman died in July 1996 — 6 months following his sons Gene and Bob landed Barneys in individual bankruptcy court docket pursuing an extremely aggressive enlargement. Considering the fact that then, Bob has experienced only intermittent get in touch with with his mother, according to the supply.

Fred is described as “a wealthy and elegant guy” who “grew up between the upper crust on Central Park West and was dating society and WASP-y ladies in Manhattan.” But in accordance to the guide proposal, his mother “wanted him to marry a center-course Jewish girl.”

A ‘blind date’ introduced Fred and Phyllis together

Fred and Phyllis satisfied “on a blind day in New York City” when Phyllis was 19 several years outdated, according to the proposal. They obtained married a number of months later and lifted 4 little ones in a 28-space mansion in Acquire, NY, that experienced a swimming pool, tennis court docket and dwell-in employees, the proposal states.

The proposal goes on to claim that Phyllis “ran the Pressman household in Acquire like a dictatorship.” Arrived at by The Submit this week, nevertheless, 92-calendar year-previous Phyllis Pressman disputed the claims in a telephone job interview.

Those people involved the proposal’s rivalry that she grew up in the Very long Island suburb of Hewlett in the 5 Cities. In reality, she states, she grew up in Cedarhurst and Lawrence. She also clarified that she was 20 years old when she and Fred bought married.

“Fred was the really like of my daily life,” Phyllis Pressman advised The Article. “He was a very distinctive man or woman.”

The reserve proposal also will take purpose at Bob Pressman’s older brother Gene. The pair ran Barneys as co-CEOs in the 1990s with Robert overseeing funds and Gene taking on the much more obvious, glamorous roles as a experience of the corporation, attending distinctive get-togethers with vogue luminaries which include Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

“Gene was reckless with revenue and women,” the guide proposal states, adding that he experienced a really hard-partying lifestyle and “was notorious for hanging out at Studio 54 in Manhattan.”

On the business facet, the book promises that Gene Pressman’s lavish design for the
Barneys New York flagship on Madison Avenue ran more than $200 million in excess of spending budget.

Subsequently, Barneys was pressured into bankruptcy, the e book proposal statements. “Gene did not treatment due to the fact he lived beneath the several delusions of his unsuccessful success and self-worth.”

An enlargement plan some called overly aggressive

In addition to lavish paying out, push accounts of the Barneys 1996 personal bankruptcy cited an overly intense growth program and a troubled connection with a Japan-primarily based business partner. In a assertion to The Write-up, Gene Pressman fired back again, denying the reserve proposal’s accusations.

“It is unhappy Bob has this sort of a casual relationship with the fact, a single of the numerous causes our spouse and children is so upset with him,” Gene Pressman mentioned. “Through the adore and aid I gained from my spouse and children, I have been fortuitous to dwell a lifestyle dedicated to supporting the arts, creating beautiful matters, cultivating modern tips.”

The elder Pressman brother included that, “Regarding Barneys, Bob conveniently forgets he was in actuality the co-CEO dependable for the economic steadiness of business, a part in which by all measures he massively unsuccessful.”

The ebook proposal, by distinction, claims that Bob “argued with his family members all the time when the Barneys New York Madison Avenue retail store was becoming designed,” protesting the huge tab that was currently being run up.

Sisters Nancy and Elizabeth file lawsuits versus Bob

A few yrs following the 1996 personal bankruptcy submitting, Bob received slapped with lawsuits from his sisters, Nancy Pressman-Dressler and Elizabeth Pressman-Neubardt, who accused him of dishonest them out of $30 million, boasting he took much more than his fair share of the business in the reorganization. The sisters experienced worked as purchasers at the enterprise.

“The Pressman sisters are seeking to reinvent troubles that have been thoroughly reviewed, and solved or dismissed in conjunction with the Barneys Inc. Chapter 11 case confirmed by the individual bankruptcy court docket around 6 months ago,” Bob Pressman explained in a assertion at the time. “They merely do not like that result,” he added.

A New York choose awarded the sisters $11.3 million 2002. Their brother appealed the verdict. The reserve is promising unreported facts on more than a few years of litigation that ensued, according to a source.

Nancy Pressman “was known to be publicly pretty loud and opinionated. She
dropped out of higher education,” the guide proposal states. Liz Pressman “was the most spoiled and the youngest,” the proposal promises, including that she was fond of “spending her Daddy’s dollars.”

Nancy declined to comment. Liz didn’t reply to a ask for for comment.

As for Bob Pressman, the proposal states he “was known as the uninteresting a single as he did not like to party all night … He saved to himself and felt the other three kids were obnoxious, spoiled brats … Bob appreciated to say that he was the ‘adopted one’ as he felt like he was from a diverse household.”

It’s not apparent irrespective of whether the e book will delve into Bob Pressman’s individual new headlines. In 2017, court docket papers discovered he had a torrid affair with a 38-calendar year-aged lady he fulfilled at a resort in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Pressman claimed the North Carolina lady, Anna Purcell, still left their $17,000-a-thirty day period rental household in Greenwich just after he suffered a stroke, forcing him to get in touch with 911 himself and using 1000’s of dollars from his wallet although he was in the hospital.

Purcell — who Pressman claimed experienced recognized presents such as a $127,300 Cartier engagement ring and a $40,000 for a Jeep Grand Cherokee — claimed in court papers she hadn’t recognised Pressman was married at the time. Immediately after Pressman dumped her, he claimed she tried to extort him for a lot more than $12 million, threatening to notify his spouse about the affair. Purcell’s law firm referred to as Pressman’s allegations a “total fabrication.”

Purcell died in 2019, according to community files, which did not disclose the cause of death.

Pressman’s e book would be only the next created about his family members and Barneys, which submitted for bankruptcy for the 2nd time in August 2019, liquidated its business and sold its brand to a licensing firm for $270 million. In 1999, William Morrow revealed “The Increase and Drop of the House of Barneys: A Spouse and children Tale of Chutzpah, Glory and Greed, by Joshua Levine, but without having the Pressman’s cooperation.

Whilst the e-book is in the early stages, Pressman has had preliminary get in touch with with several publishers, according to the source. He is bracing for attainable litigation to stop publication, but “wants to set out his tale,” the resource added.