An heir to the now-defunct luxury department store Barney’s is accusing his late mother and siblings of orchestrating a tax fraud scheme to evade paying $20 million to New York state, according to a lawsuit.
Bob Pressman, the 71-year-old grandson of the retail giant founder Barney Pressman, alleged his family conspired to avoid paying New York state income and estate taxes by falsely claiming that his mother lived in Florida, a lawsuit obtained by the New York Post alleges.
In reality, Phyllis Pressman, the plaintiff’s mother, lived in Southampton, New York, for the last six years of her life, according to the complaint. She died in Palm Beach, Florida, in April 2024 at the age of 95.
She “freely told the people around her that she did not like Florida and did not intend to make it her permanent home,” the complaint states.
Phyllis was the widow of Fred Pressman, the founder’s son. Barney’s, founded in 1923, got its start selling suits; 30 years later, Fred took over and transformed it into a luxury business.
Fred died in 1996 and four years later, she moved to West Palm Beach. She wed Joseph Gurwin, a textile manufacturer and philanthropist, the following year, the suit states. Nine years after Gurwin died, she moved back to New York in 2018.
The lawsuit alleges Phyllis “was renowned for her exacting and highly developed taste and sophistication.”
Her Southampton home — a sprawling 2.3-acre beachfront property — is now up for sale for more than $34 million, property and real estate records show. She also had a 2,500-square-foot Upper East Side apartment, which is now under contract for just under $4 million, the Post reported.
Bob Pressman was cut out of his mother’s will after years of bickering with his relatives, including his unwillingness to participate in the alleged scheme, a source close to the case told the outlet.
“Bob doesn’t get anything for reasons he well knows,” a trust agreement allegedly states.
The suit lists Bob as a whistleblower under the New York False Claims Act, meaning he could be entitled to anywhere between 25 and 30 percent of the proceeds recovered. The filing alleges his relatives who were involved in the tax fraud scheme could be liable for more than $50 million worth of taxes and penalties, the Post reported.
Phyllis “successfully recruited” her children — Gene Pressman, Elizabeth Pressman-Neubardt and Nancy Pressman-Dressler — to lie about where she lived after Bob refused to do so, the complaint alleges.
The trio in late 2023 helped move their mother into hospice care in Palm Beach “when she was ill and should not have been traveling” and transferred the Southampton home to a limited liability company, the filing says.
That’s when they “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,” the suit alleges.
To support allegations that his mother lived in New York residency from 2018 through 2024, the lawsuit claims that Phyllis had her prescriptions filled at a local Southampton pharmacy, regularly called from the landline at the mansion, and had two aides working at the property.
Reached by phone on Thursday at her home in Westchester County, Nancy Pressman told The Independent that she had no comment. Elizabeth Pressman, whose phone on Thursday was not accepting messages, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. A listed number for Gene Pressman went straight to voicemail; various email addresses for him bounced back as undeliverable.
Family feuds over company money have erupted ever since the department store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1996.
In 1999, Bob’s sisters, Elizabeth and Nancy, took to court, accusing him of taking $30 million that belonged to them. A judge found that Bob, then the trustee of the business, committed fraud and ordered him to pay his sisters $11.3 million. He denied the allegations and launched an appeal.
Barney’s declared bankruptcy for a second time in 2019, which led to the shuttering of all its stores. Authentic Brands Group then acquired the retail icon’s name and began a partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue.
Reporter Justin Rohrlich contributed to this report.
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