Millionaire linen magnate George Bardwil is seen pointing a loaded gun at an acquaintance at his posh Upper East Side pad in stunning surveillance footage played Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
With pistol in hand, Bardwil can be seen frantically rushing from his messy bedroom to the top of a staircase in his E. 51st St. townhouse as his startled Yorkie barks in the background.
The owner of Bardwil Home, the country’s biggest table-linen company, is charged with possessing an illegal gun after he used it to scare away an intruder, prosecutors said.
Bardwil called cops after the encounter but ended up in handcuffs after they saw the security footage.
The Sig Sauer .40 caliber firearm was registered to his bodyguard according to his defense lawyer Michael Bachner.
Prosecutors also showed a videotaped statement Bardwil made to prosecutor a day after the incident last January.
He identifies the ”burglar” as Andres Lopez, a former pal who once swiped $3,000 off his dresser.
“He came from the roof down the fire escape into the apartment and walked in took a pair of sunglasses and the money and left,” Bardwil says in the video.
He met Lopez three or four times at social events but stopped returning his calls after he stole from him, he said.
Bardwil pulled the gun on Lopez after he snuck into his backyard during his latest robbery attempt, he told the DA’s Office.
“I just wanted to scare him,” Bardwil said.
Bachner is trying to have the surveillance video, gun and Bardwil’s statements thrown out because the arresting officer didn’t read him his Miranda rights or obtain a warrant to search the home.
Justice Richard Carruthers said he’d issue his decision November 20th.
Bardwil, 60, still faces assault charges for allegedly pummeling his ex-wife, Emiko, 26, last May.
He remains free on $250,000 bail.