In a Fashion Week bombshell, the superintendent of the famed Lexington Avenue Armory has been accused of shaking down designer Marc Jacobs and others for more than $30,000.
James Jackson provided armory space for their events in return for illegal cash payoffs, home gym equipment, computers and other items, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and state Inspector General Kristine Hamann said yesterday.
Cuomo also revealed that Jacobs’ company is now a subject of the ongoing criminal investigation to determine whether it willingly forked over bribe money to secure space at the armory.
“It’s illegal to receive a bribe but it can also be illegal to pay a bribe,” Cuomo told The Post.
A Jacobs fashion show is scheduled for the armory tomorrow as part of Fashion Week with what a Jacobs spokeswoman said is “the full knowledge and consent of the Attorney General’s Office.”
The spokeswoman said “we have been and are cooperating” with the investigation.
Jacobs fashion shows are among the hottest events and often attended by glitterati like rockers Fergie and Courtney Love and celebs Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore and Victoria Beckham – all in attendance at his recent shows at the armory.
The armory, a national historic landmark, is routinely rented out for commercial events.
Jackson, who oversaw the facility for more than eight years but has since left, often would tell vendors that their paperwork got tied up, investigators say.
He would allegedly say they had to pay to get the process moving again, or would accept money to get a fashion show into the armory space a day early so planners could set up without paying the full $6,000 daily rental fee, a Cuomo aide said.
Jacobs made the payments through its public-relations firm, KCD, officials said.
“What we found was a pattern of payoffs to Jackson that covered nearly a decade,” Hamann said.
Investigators were helped after the New York International Carpet Show contacted the AG’s Office in September to say the show had been hit by a shakedown.
Investigators, posing as members of the show, caught Jackson red-handed on camera taking bribes, officials said. In one instance, he allegedly took $1,500 from an undercover agent.
“You pay for the value of that space,” Cuomo said. “What you don’t pay is a gratuity or a bribe or an illegal tip.”
Jackson, 56, a 30-year state employee, was arrested in October and quit his $58,951-a- year job two days later.
He was indicted last week on 31 felony counts, including extortion and bribery, and pleaded not guilty yesterday in Manhattan.
Additional reporting by Peter Cox