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The former flame of “Today” correspondent Jill Rappaport wants a piece of her Hamptons getaway, claiming in a new lawsuit that she pulled the rug out from his share of the ritzy vacation home.
Richard Swift and Rappaport were hot and heavy between November 2002 and June 2010, when they built their weekend love nest in Water Mill, LI, the investment banker said in a Manhattan civil suit filed yesterday.
Swift, 57, claims he had this verbal deal with his onetime fiancée Rappaport: She would purchase the land at 377 Little Noyac Path while he would front the money and pour in his own sweat to build their Hamptons getaway.
Rappaport — the 54-year-old entertainment reporter for “Today” — shelled out $142,500 for land, while Swift forked out $2.6 million for all the construction, the suit said.
They completed the house in summer 2006, and Swift claims he got nothing upon their breakup last summer.
“In or about early 2010, defendant Jill Rappaport suggested that plaintiff should treat as a gift to her the house that he paid for and constructed,” according to papers filed by Swift’s lawyer Robert Bodian.
“This suggestion was completely inconsistent with their prior agreement and understanding.”
Jill Rappaport declined to comment when reached by The Post yesterday.
The western-style mansion was profiled in the June 2007 edition of Architectural Digest.
A quarter-mile-long driveway leads to the property with a sign posted on two logs announcing its name: “The Last Buck Ranch.”
Rappaport hinted in an Architectural Digest article that she put her fair share of green into “Last Buck.”
“It took every cent I had, and it’s surrounded by all these deer,” she said, explaining the mansion’s word-play name.
A newspaper ad offered the property as a summer rental last year for $550,000 for the season.
That includes four bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a heated pool, four fireplaces, a movie theater, full gym, horse trailer and paths over 50 acres.
In the magazine piece, Rappaport claimed she went forward with the building project at the urging of her best pal, Christie Brinkley.
“I wanted it to look like Hoss Cartwright — you know, from ‘Bonanza’ — could mosey out the front door,” Rappaport said. “Gosh, am I dating myself? Maybe I should come up with a more current cowboy!”
Additional reporting by Sabrina Ford