Shunned heir to Barney's dynasty files spectacular revenge lawsuit against family after being cut out of will

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

A shunned Barney's heir filed a revenge lawsuit against his family after he was cut out of his mother's will.
Bob Pressman, 71, accused his family of lying about his mother Phyllis Pressman's residence in order to evade $20million in taxes in New York state.
He claimed in a bombshell lawsuit that his siblings and mother conspired to avoid paying NY income and estate taxes and falsely claimed Phyllis lived in West Palm Beach, Florida, as reported by the New York Post.
According to the filing, Phyllis had actually been living in her $38million ocean-front mansion in Southampton, NY, for the last six years of her life, before she died last year at 95.
'Phyllis Pressman freely told the people around her that she did not like Florida and did not intend to make it her permanent home,' the complaint said.
Bob is the grandson of Barney's founder Barney Pressman and the son of retail legend Fred Pressman, who transformed the store into a luxury empire in the 1960s.
But after years of fighting, Bob was cut out of his mother's will, which stated: 'Bob doesn't get anything for reasons he well knows.'
Phyllis was reportedly worth over $100million thanks to her 2.3-acre estate in the Hamptons, as well as her $3.95million Upper East Side apartment.
Some of the matriarch's jewelry and artwork are also set to be auctioned later this year.
Bob's lawsuit listed him as a whistleblower, which under New York law means he could be entitled to 30 percent of any assets recovered.
The suit stated that Phyllis moved to West Palm Beach in 2000, when she remarried to philanthropist Joseph Gurwin four years after her husband Fred died.
Gurwin, who made a fortune selling military equipment, died in 2009, and Phyllis moved back to New York in 2018, per the suit.
Bob accused his mother of 'recruiting' her children Gene, Elizabeth and Nancy to lie and say she spent most of her time in Palm Beach. The suit stated that Bob refused to go along with the alleged scheme.
The shunned heir claimed his siblings moved Phyllis to hospice care in Palm Beach in late 2023, months before she died.
Bob said the siblings 'all increased the size of their inheritance from Phyllis Pressman because they helped the Estate avoid the New York estate taxes that it was obligated to pay.'
Bob's lawsuit lists him as a whistleblower, which under New York law means he could be entitled to 30 percent of any assets recovered. Gene Pressman is seen on the far left and his mother Phyllis is on the right, in 2018
Bob had previously worked on an unpublished manuscript for a book where he blamed his family for the demise of Barney's.
His sisters Elizabeth and Nancy sued him in 1996, accusing him of stealing $30million from Barney's when he was in charge of the business' finances.
He denied the claims but a judge awarded the sisters $11.3 million in 2002.
Bob and his siblings sold the family's interest in Barney's in 2004 for upwards of $937million.
The iconic department store retailer was sold in 2019 to fashion licensing company Authentic Brands Group and financial firm B. Riley for $271.4 million.
The store had previously filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors in 2020.
Barneys' roots date back to 1923, when Barney Pressman pawned his wife's engagement ring and used the cash to open a 500-square-foot men's discount clothing store on Seventh Ave. and 17th St. in Manhattan.
His son shifted the company's focus to luxury clothing in the 1960s, and it began to expand nationwide in the 1990s.