Business

French Silent Models not golden in Gotham

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Sometimes New York isn’t so pretty — even for a successful modeling agency.

The founders of Paris-based Silent Models, a flourishing agency that represents Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Isabeli Fontana in France, have stumbled in their attempt to expand to the Big Apple, The Post has learned.

Vincent Peter and Eric Dubois, who founded Silent in 2006, recently cut ties with their New York office after knocking heads with Silent NY founder Peter Fitzpatrick, sources said.

“Silent Paris has terminated its relationship with Silent NY and the agencies are no longer working together,” according to a notice posted at Silentmodels.com.

Each side feels the other cheated it out of money, sources said — and Peter and Dubois have filed suit in Manhattan state court over the matter.

The Parisian partners then tried to form a partnership with The Lions, a newbie New York agency founded by Marianne Tamposi, of Prodigy Model Management in Palm Beach, Fla.

But the two have run into turbulence again. Fitzpatrick flipped his lid when models once listed with Silent NY started appearing on The Lions’ website late last year, sources told The Post.

“They were trying to take the girls to different agencies,” Fitzpatrick told The Post. “I just called up the owners of those agencies and said they are not allowed to work for you because they have a noncompete.”

Tamposi didn’t respond to a request for comment, but sources told The Post two other ex-bookers for Silent NY, Carl Navarro and David Kim, now work for The Lions.

Fitzpatrick said that the two sides are working on a settlement. He declined to discuss the terms of the deal except to say that he expects a press release soon.

Joseph D’Avanzo, the lawyer representing Peter and Dubois in the employment dispute, declined to comment. Fitzpatrick’s lawyers, Joe Clark and James Koutoulas, also declined to comment.