Two civil lawsuits accuse a billionaire businessman and his charitable foundation of bankrolling a convicted sex offender's abuse for years, including by giving him control of a New York City \1 where survivors say the abuse took place. The businessman denies any knowledge of wrongdoing.
Reviewed by Survivor Justice Alliance · Updated 2026-10-21
Figures reflect allegations in civil complaints filed against the businessman and the businessman's charitable foundation in New York.
Survivors of the offender have filed civil lawsuits in New York against billionaire retail executive the businessman, the businessman's charitable foundation, and a corporate entity the businessman set up to purchase a New York City \1. The suits allege that the businessman provided the offender with roughly 200 million dollars over about two decades and gave him access to resources, including trustee status within the businessman's charitable foundation from the early 1990s through the mid 2000s, that allegedly allowed the offender to build and sustain his abuse.
Central to the claims is the townhouse itself. Survivors allege the property, which the businessman's corporate entity purchased and later allowed the offender to use for years, became a location where abuse took place. The lawsuits argue that providing that property, combined with years of financial backing, went beyond simple business dealings and amounted to material support for the offender's conduct.
A spokesperson for the businessman has firmly denied the allegations, stating that the businessman had no knowledge of the offender's crimes and describing the businessman himself as someone who was deceived. According to the spokesperson, the businessman paid the offender only for wealth management services and severed all ties with him years before the offender's conduct became public. The spokesperson has said the claims will be vigorously contested in court.
That denial sets up a legal fight that will likely turn on what the businessman knew, and when. Unlike a criminal case, where prosecutors must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, civil claims like these are typically decided under a lower evidentiary standard, meaning survivors do not need to prove the businessman directly participated in abuse, only that his funding and access materially enabled it.
With the offender dead since 2019, survivors seeking accountability have increasingly turned to the people and institutions around him, a strategy that mirrors how survivors pursue dioceses, schools, and youth organizations rather than only individual abusers who have died or have no assets. The theory is the same across all of these cases: institutions and individuals who provide the money, property, or cover that allows abuse to continue can carry their own civil liability, separate from the abuser's own conduct.
For survivors, this approach matters practically as well as symbolically. A foundation with substantial charitable assets, or a wealthy individual, may represent the only realistic source of financial accountability once the direct abuser is deceased or has no remaining resources of his own.
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Suing the people and institutions around an abuser, rather than only the abuser, involves a different set of legal questions. Here are the basics.
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Yes. Civil claims can target funders, institutions, and other enablers whose resources or access allegedly made abuse possible, separate from any claim against the direct abuser.
When the primary abuser has died or has no assets, survivors often pursue institutions or individuals who financially supported him as the only realistic path to accountability.
No. A denial is a standard defense that must still be tested through the civil litigation process, including discovery of financial and personal records.
Civil cases generally require proof by a preponderance of the evidence, a lower standard than the beyond a reasonable doubt standard used in criminal trials.