THE four-year partnership in a scented candle business between socialite Marjorie Gubelmann and interior decorator Daniel Benedict has ended in a bitter legal battle over money.
Gubelmann and Benedict, the blond boyfriend of Cinema Society chief Andrew Saffir, were inseparable friends on the social circuit until their business relationship recently went sour.
Now Gubelmann – a collector of big jewelry whose family ruled society in Newport, RI, and Palm Beach for generations – is suing Benedict in Manhattan federal court, charging him with mismanagement of Vie Luxe, which sells scented candles, home fragrances and bath products.
The lawsuit also seeks to stop Benedict and Michele Brown, Vie Luxe’s former sales representative, from setting up a competing business, DBD Inc.
“If there is anything more acrimonious than a divorce, it’s a society business fallout over money,” observed one socialite.
Gubelmann put up all the money to start the company and covered its losses over the years. “This was the most pain- ful decision she ever had to make,” a friend of hers said. “Daniel was like family.”
But a Benedict pal told Page Six, “Daniel’s closest friend of over 10 years stabbed him in the back and is now trying to take his company away from him, when it was all his hard work, his design skills, expertise and contacts that were the whole foundation of the company.”
Benedict is said to be hiring lawyer Michael Kennedy to countersue Gubelmann. Meanwhile, friends of both parties are caught in the awkward situation of being forced to chose where their loyalties lie.