While billionaire New York developer Harry Macklowe is cracking old wife jokes outside divorce court, his estranged wife, Linda, appears to be holding all the cards.
A source with knowledge of their $2 billion divorce says the majority of their marital assets — including their billion-dollar art collection, which includes works by Franz Kline, Gerhard Richter and Mark Rothko, as well as their Manhattan apartment — are in Linda’s name.
The source told Page Six that around the time Harry was forced to sell the GM Building, his pride and joy, in 2008 after being unable to refinance his debt, he transferred many high-value assets to Linda’s name to allegedly prevent creditors from going after them in the future. The source said, “Despite his comment that he’d pay his wife a billion dollars to go away, he doesn’t have a billion dollars to give her. Linda has all the money. Everything valuable is in her name.” Harry’s lawyers insist that all the assets in Linda’s name remain joint marital property.
After 57 years of marriage, Linda filed for divorce in July after learning that Harry, 79, had put his French mistress Patricia Landeau, 62, up in one of his Park Avenue apartments, less than a mile away from their home at the Plaza Hotel.
Wisecracking mogul Harry told reporters outside Manhattan Supreme Court this week that he’d give his wife $1 billion to go away, adding, “As soon as this divorce is over I’m getting remarried.” But Linda won’t agree to a 50-50 split and is demanding further financial disclosure to see if he’s been diverting money to his mistress, whom Linda believes he has been romancing for years.
The source said of Harry’s shtick outside court, “He has humiliated Linda publicly. Why would she settle this divorce easily so he would be free to marry his mistress?” But another source said, “Harry is confident this can be over in months.”
As Harry’s courthouse jokes dried up yesterday, his attorneys Peter Bronstein, Robert S. Cohen and Dan Rottenstreich didn’t respond. Linda’s legal team, Jeffrey Fisher and John Teitler, didn’t comment.