Sigourney Weaver has been dragged into an increasingly ugly, $5 million court battle between two high-powered Manhattan cosmetics executives.
Anthony Minuto has filed a lawsuit against his former business partner, Vincent Longo, the renowned makeup artist who has worked with Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Heidi Klum, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow, among others, and who owns cosmetics company Vincent Longo Inc.
Minuto claims in the suit that Longo, who also previously served as a contributing beauty editor at Elle, unceremoniously dumped him from the company and refused to cash out his 25 percent stake. Minuto now wants nearly $5 million in damages and 25 percent of the company.
“Out of the blue, Vincent wrote me a letter stating that my services were no longer needed and he would not honor any prior agreement or writings we had made establishing my ownership in the business,” Minuto told Page Six.
Weaver, star of the “Aliens” series among many other hit movies, and Hermes CEO Robert Chavez, who both have minority stakes in the company, are also defendants.
“It’s outrageous,” Minuto told us. “I built and built and built the company up, and got all the pieces into place, and he [Longo] threw me out.
“Now they’re making money,” Minuto fumed. “I tried for three months to get my money from him, to no avail.”
A judge has frozen the company’s assets pending a hearing in February.
Longo did not return repeated calls seeking comment, and Weaver’s rep could not be reached.