Arianna Huffington Left $275,000 in Damages at New York City Loft, Claims Lawsuit by Owner Eric Steel
Arianna Huffington, the liberal activist, socialite and publisher of Huffington Post, is in the middle of a legal battle regarding a lawsuit which claims Huffington trashed the 4,400 square-foot Chelsea apartment she was renting, according to The New York Post.
In a story befitting her own powerhouse of an online publication, the lawsuit alleges that the blog icon left the $27,000-a-month Chelsea loft with bloody mattresses, stained walls and punctured wood floors which amounted to $275,000 in damages.
The apartment's owner, Eric Steel, alleged in the suit that Huffington utilized the apartment for large parties as well as business functions that were "in breach of the sublease" and promises made by Huffington.
Steel also claimed that Huffington allowed her daughters to reside at the New York City loft despite agreeing to serving as its only occupant.
In response, Huffington categorically denied each claim made by Steel in the lawsuit.
"Every single claim in this suit is false except the square footage and the address," Huffington told The Daily Intelligencer. "Eric Steel, who happily renewed the lease twice and visited the apartment multiple times, is holding onto $93,000 dollars in deposits, which he has refused to return. He is obviously trying to extort more money from me by making ludicrous claims to the NY Post. It won't work."
Steel said that the apartment's dining room table, which was custom-designed by famous architect Charles Gwathmey, was damaged and scratched, according to the lawsuit. He said that the table had to be hoisted out of the apartment and repaired by the original manufacturer.
Gwathmey is Steel's stepfather and is one of the reasons, Steel says, that the Chelsea loft means so much to him.
"The loft says a great deal about Charles's work, but more significant, it intones chords about me, my personality and my aspirations in ways that words probably cannot," he told The New York Times. "I've been incredibly lucky. In forgoing the wrestling, in carving the loft to its very core, Charles and I discovered what we had been seeking all along: the most solid, luminous embrace of father and son."
