Billionaire cosmetics heir William Lauder offered a man money and a job in his family’s empire to dish dirt on his baby mama, a lawsuit charges.
The executive chair of Estée Lauder Cos. and grandson of founder Estée Lauder offered to hire the unidentified man and provide “other valuable considerations” to get him to make “false and misleading statements” about socialite Taylor Stein in exchange for cash, say court papers filed by Stein.
The man confessed to the deal in a sworn statement, the suit says.
Lauder and Stein have been involved in bitter litigation since the birth of their daughter in 2007.
In addition to targeting her, the effort “further damaged [Stein] by causing her to retain the services of a [retired] Los Angeles district attorney to disprove the statements obtained by W. Lauder,” the papers say.
Stein, in her early 40s, is suing in California to force Lauder, 53, to transfer into her name the Los Angeles home he bought for her and their young daughter.
Lauder has refused to sign over the home, where Stein and the girl live, because he wrongly believes the socialite violated the confidentiality conditions in their “support agreement,” Stein’s suit charges.
Meanwhile, the suit revealed that Stein’s second child has a serious illness. The youngster, whom Stein adopted, was the subject of a front-page 2011 Post story with the headline, “How socialite brought down black-market baby brokers.”
Speaking through her lawyers, Stein declined to comment.
Stein had bought the child on the black market for $180,000 as a playmate for her and Lauder’s daughter, then helped the FBI bust the baby-peddling ring.
Lauder knocked up Stein in 2006 while still married, then paid her $500,000 a year to leave New York for good, Page Six has reported.
A representative for Lauder denied the allegations and said Lauder’s primary concern was for the couple’s daughter.
“The allegation is demonstrably false,” the rep said. “The individual referenced in Ms. Stein’s claim did proactively reach out to the Estée Lauder Company, but at no time did William, the company or anyone working on William’s instructions offer this individual a job in any capacity at Estée Lauder or anywhere else.”