A shameless New York self-promoter and velvet-rope gadfly — who snootily brags about copping freebies while flying only first class and sporting custom-made clothes — is flat broke, according to court papers.
In bankruptcy documents filed in Manhattan last month, social hustler Justin Ross Lee, who regularly boasts about his luxe lifestyle to his 5,000 Facebook fans, claimed that his aptly named “Pretentious Pockets’’ silk-pocket-square business is a dismal failure, raking in just $12,250 to date.
And that’s left Lee with a measly $100 in the bank, nearly $160,000 in debt and unable to cover the rent on his $2,700-a-month apartment in Murray Hill’s white-glove Anthem building, court documents say.
“There are four things that I refuse to pay for in this city — parking, publicity and p – – – y. The fourth thing is alcohol,” Lee, 30, haughtily told The Post earlier this month.
“Whenever I reach a door or a rope, there is no speculation that I’m not going to get in. The only part I hear is the metal part of that red rope hitting the ground,’’ he said.
But Lee is now hearing his angry creditors loud and clear, too.
The preppy party boy — who crows that he never buys “off-the-rack clothing’’ and struts around town in custom monogrammed shirts, custom-made suits and Hermes belts — was cut off by Barneys New York for a nearly $5,000 credit-card bill he couldn’t pay, documents show.
He owes more than $700 to his swanky Manhattan gym, Club H Fitness, too.
Citibank, to whom Lee also owes $80,000 in credit-card bills, recently sued him for breach of contract, according to the filing.
But paying for things isn’t in Lee’s playbook — he has bragged that he mooches much of his lavish, jet-setting lifestyle with comped hotels, booze and airfare.
According to the court papers, Lee, who lists his occupation as “haberdasher,” claimed that he takes in just $3,250 a month from Pretentious Pockets, whose pocket squares start at $58 a pop.
But the business has no assets, despite his public claims that it is expected to make $250,000 in 2011.
After rent, utilities and other expenses — including $50 a month for dry cleaning — Lee is in the hole by $1,000 a month, his papers claim.
He made just $4,000 in 2010, the filing says.
His only assets are a watch and necklace worth a total of $3,750, plus $2,500 in clothing, $5,500 in furniture and a $750 laptop.
But Lee apparently has had no problem financing his high-living ways.
His Facebook page contains hundreds of pictures of him lounging in first-class and aboard private airplanes and partying in the Hamptons, LA, and Europe, surrounded by a bevy of beauties.
Lee, who claims he’s pitching a reality TV show about his lifestyle, launched his Facebook page to market himself because he believes he’s a “brand’’ people will buy.