Oleg Cassini's widow defies court order, sits in Nassau jail

The widow of Oleg Cassini, the fashion designer behind Jacqueline Kennedy’s iconic wardrobe while she was first lady, has been behind bars in Nassau’s jail for months because she defied a judge’s order in a battle involving her late husband’s nearly $60 million estate.

In May, Marianne Nestor Cassini, 68, traded a multimillionaire’s lifestyle for that of an inmate as part of an inheritance fight that has lasted more than a decade.

After Cassini’s 2006 death at age 92, the conflict pitted the widow against his two daughters from his marriage to 1940s movie star Gene Tierney. Now Nestor Cassini is up against her late husband’s grandson, Alexandre Cassini Belmont, who lives in Spain and has claimed a right to 50 percent of the estate.

Nassau Surrogate’s Court Judge Margaret Reilly issued a warrant for Nestor Cassini’s arrest after finding her in civil contempt in November for not complying with an order Reilly originally issued in 2016.

That ruling compelled Nestor Cassini to share business records, financial documents, computer passwords and keys with the court-appointed receiver who is administering the affairs of two companies, Oleg Cassini Inc. and Cassini Parfums Ltd.

Records show company assets include a 43-acre property at 313 McCouns Lane in Oyster Bay Cove that is listed for sale for $19.5 million. The property features an Italian Renaissance style mansion with 14 bedrooms and a water view.

Among other items in the designer’s contested estate are Jaqueline Kennedy memorabilia, worth an estimated $1.8 million, along with about $50,000 in memorabilia connected to Princess Grace of Monaco, the late actress Grace Kelly. She was romantically linked to Oleg Cassini before her royal marriage in 1956.

The jailing of Nestor Cassini is the latest twist in the case that has stretched across the tenure of three judges.

Oleg Cassini’s 1992 will left his property to Nestor Cassini, with the exception of about $1.5 million for his daughters, Christina and Daria Cassini.

But before her own death, Belmont’s mother, Christina Cassini, successfully challenged Oleg Cassini’s will based on her parents’ 1950s divorce settlement. It mandated Oleg Cassini “leave not less than one-half of his net estate” to his daughters.

In March 2014, another judge suspended Nestor Cassini’s control of the fashion designer’s estate after Christina Cassini alleged her father’s widow was mismanaging his millions. Later that year, the widow agreed to resign as estate executor and the judge appointed the public administrator for the role.

Christina Cassini, who lived in France and suffered from ovarian cancer, died in 2015. Her death followed her sister Daria’s 2010 death.

In 2015, a judge awarded the estate of Christina Cassini 50 percent of her father’s net estate, which included her late sister’s share, with the other half slated to go to Nestor Cassini.

But the judge first needs an accurate accounting of all the assets before the estate can be split between Nestor Cassini and Oleg’s grandson, court records show.

“It is truly unfortunate that Ms. Cassini refused to comply with multiple court orders, leaving the court no choice but to hold her in contempt ... If she would simply comply with the court’s order she would be released,” Uniondale attorney John Barnosky, who represents Oleg Cassini’s grandson and who serves as co-executor of Christina Cassini’s estate, said in a statement.

In 2017, Reilly said there was “ample evidence” that Nestor Cassini had transferred “multiple estate assets into her own name.”

The judge also found Nestor Cassini had refused to follow court orders, failed to keep adequate records and had been “derelict and neglectful” in her former duties as the estate’s executor. She ordered Nestor Cassini to pay surcharges of more than $20 million to the estate, a figure that with interest is referenced in court records as now equaling around $50 million.

“You have me locked in a cell and I can’t do anything,” Nestor Cassini complained to Reilly on Aug. 16, her most recent court appearance.

Court officers removed Nestor Cassini’s handcuffs before she addressed the judge as her own legal representative, still wearing leg restraints along with an oversized black blazer, matching pants and orange jail-issue shoes.

“No, you have yourself locked in a cell … The keys are in your hands,” said Reilly, who had signed an order compelling Nestor Cassini’s court appearance after the woman had refused to leave jail to attend a different court date.

Records show New York City deputy sheriffs arrested Nestor Cassini before turning her over to Nassau authorities May 4, the day of her booking into the Nassau jail.

Nestor Cassini filed an affidavit in July, asking to be “released from incarceration forthwith” and for time to hire a new attorney before any further action in the case.

“I don’t have computer passwords in my brain memorized … I have never done anything illegal in my entire life … You keep me in chains, incarcerated. It’s really unfair,” Nestor Cassini told Reilly at her August court date.

The judge said Nestor Cassini had plenty of time to comply with the court order before she went to jail, and would be freed as soon as she followed it.

An attorney for the public administrator and the receiver’s attorney didn’t return messages seeking comment.

Nestor Cassini is due back in court Thursday.