Ex suing for nanny cash
THE NANNY nightmare is back in court.
A quarrelling big-bucks Upper West Side couple — whose bitter divorce made headlines after a nanny accused the real estate executive mom of sexually abusing and starving her twins — are back at each other’s throats, court papers reveal.
Henry Owsley, CEO of the investment bank The Gordon Group, is suing ex-wife Danica Cordell-Reeh for pocketing more than $263,000 she claimed went to a livein nanny she never hired, according to court papers.
Owsley is also asking for $2.5 million in punitive damages.
When they separated in 2000, Owsley agreed to reimburse Cordell-Reeh for the nanny for the couple’s twins, in addition to tens of thousands of dollars in child support, private school tuition and health care. The annual nanny payments began at $80,000, when his kids were about 4, but dwindled to $13,000 as the children grew older.
The banker often wondered if the money was going to a nanny, especially when his kids, now 17, told him one wasn’t around as often as Cordell-Reeh claimed, according to court papers.
In 2012, Owsley learned his ex spent about one-third of the money he provided for a nanny, approximately $179,397, and didn’t hire a caretaker at all in 2010 and 2011, court papers claim.
Owsley’s attorney would not comment on the suit, which was filed in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Tom Shanahan, Cordell-Reeh’s attorney said the lawsuit left him “quite surprised.” “Her children are turning 18 in January, and he wants to get involved in 10 more years of litigation,” said Shanahan.