DIVORCED COURT

Suit claims tycoon dug dirt on Texas financier

New York billionaire Howard Milstein dished dirt about a Texas financier’s divorce proceedings as he sought to gain leverage in a contentious business deal earlier this year, according to an explosive lawsuit.

Milstein — a 67-year-old heir to the Milstein family’s Big Apple banking and property empire — allegedly hired a private investigator to “tail” Dallas investor Mark Hurley as the pair tangled over the sale of a company called Fiduciary Network, according to the $150 million suit filed late last week.

Milstein’s Emigrant Bank — one of the biggest privately owned savings banks in the US — owned 75 percent of Fiduciary Network, a firm that invests in financial advisers. Early this year, Milstein was looking to buy Hurley’s remaining 25-percent stake at a fire-sale price, according to the suit.

When Hurley refused to settle, believing the company should be worth nearly $500 million, Milstein in January began “disclosing to investment bankers in the wealth management space matters arising from Hurley’s divorce.” Emigrant learned that he had been arrested in November 2017 for domestic abuse, according to court papers.

In a separate April arbitration between Hurley and Emigrant, Hurley denied the abuse allegations, noting that his ex-wife had since signed a second affidavit in which she stated, “Divorces are very emotional. Both sides often will say things that they later regret and at times may even exaggerate.”

Nevertheless, Hurley alleges that in mid-February his counsel got a call from Emigrant lawyer Andrew Levander, who told Hurley’s lawyer that Emigrant had obtained a copy of court papers revealing “matters of marital discord.”

“Incredibly, Levander revealed that his client would disclose those non-public matters if Hurley refused to settle,” according to the suit.

Meanwhile, Milstein’s minions were shoveling the divorce dirt to bankers, making it “impossible” for Hurley’s Fiduciary Network “to complete transactions that were not already very far along” and thereby hurting its business, the suit alleges.

“Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, defendants’ extraordinary breaches of fiduciary duty took their toll. The ultimate winning bid for [Fiduciary Network] was only a fraction of what it should have been,” according to the suit.

On Nov. 21, Emigrant exercised a right of first refusal to acquire Hurley’s 25-percent stake at an undisclosed price.

Milstein, a former co-owner of the New York Islanders, denies the accusations.

“Mr. Hurley’s allegations are completely false and defamatory,” a Milstein rep told The Post. “His complaint is nothing more than a series of baseless — and at times bizarre — allegations, most of which have little to do with the transaction in question. We have no doubt the court will agree once all the facts are presented.”

Milstein’s attorney Levander didn’t return calls.