Co-Owner of the Four Seasons Arrested Over Alleged Family Friend Attack
The self-proclaimed “naughty” co-owner of the Four Seasons, Julian Niccolini, is facing felony charges over allegations that he tried to force himself on a family friend during a recent party. Even so, the Times reports, he made it out of jail in time to oversee Henry Kissinger’s power lunch Thursday afternoon.
Niccolini was arrested Wednesday and apparently released the same day without bail (over a prosecutor’s objections) on the single count of felony sex abuse. Police say the 28-year-old woman is accusing the restauranteur of attacking her during a Fête de la Fleur event at his famous New York restaurant. According to the Daily News, Nicoolini did business with her father and had known her since she was seven years old.
The woman reportedly met with police two days after the alleged event. Via the Times:
The woman, described by the police as an acquaintance of Mr. Niccolini, told investigators he had tried to kiss her, touching her legs and buttocks and pulling her toward him, according to a criminal complaint. Mr. Niccolini then reached through an opening in the back of her dress and tugged on her bra until it ripped, touched her breasts, yanked up her dress and tried to pull down her stockings, the complaint said.
The woman told detectives she had repeatedly asked Mr. Niccolini to stop and had struggled to break free, but could not.
Asking for bail of $10,000, a prosecutor from the Manhattan district attorney’s office said at the arraignment that Mr. Niccolini had “sexually attacked” the woman “with such force that he ripped her bra open and caused significant scratch marks on her back and bruising on her hip.”
The Times sent a man to the Four Seasons Thursday to see how New York’s rich and powerful were reacting to the allegations. Guess what—they don’t really care! “The customers in the restaurant — sold out, Mr. Niccolini said — did not want to talk about the charges, although one man at the bar flashed a thumbs-up sign at Mr. Niccolini as he left.”
