New York socialite locked in vicious custody battle with CEO accused of racism, drug use

They were one of Park Avenue’s golden couples. A socialite-turned-actress and her millionaire CEO. New York society pages called their wedding a ‘fairy tale’ and the groom a ‘Prince Charming’. 

But explosive court documents have revealed that the courtship and marriage of Julianne Michelle, 34, and Karl Reeves, 50, was anything but. 

As the couple both fight for full legal and physical custody of their two-year-old daughter, a disturbing portrait has emerged of a relationship allegedly marred by abuse, drugs, racism, and violence. 

The court documents, video, and audio clips seen exclusively by DailyMail.com allege that Reeves, the owner of elevator installation company CEI New York, is a Neo-Nazi.  

Video also show Reeves snorting what appears to be ketamine and cocaine from a glass dish in his kitchen, while records appear to capture him threatening to kill his actress wife’s parents. 

Celebrity divorce lawyer Robert Wallack, who is representing Reeves, told DailyMail.com that the allegations against him are ‘patently false’ and part of a ‘well-orchestrated extortion and smear campaign’ by Julianne.    

Video has emerged of millionaire Karl Reeves snorting what appears to be ketamine and cocaine from a glass dish in his kitchen

Reeves, 50, has been locked in an ugly custody battle with his estranged actress wife Julianne Michelle, 34, who alleges that he was abusive throughout their marriage and threatened to kill her parents. The couple are pictured here on their wedding day in November 2015 

In a defamation lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court against Julianne, her mother, the Foundation for the Child Victims of the Family Court, and its executive director, Reeves alleged that Julianne’s allegations were manufactured by her and her mother ‘in an effort to engineer a lucrative financial settlement to the parties’ divorce and custody proceedings’.  

Julianne and Reeves’ whirlwind romance began after they met at a mutual friend’s birthday party in Manhattan’s Upper East Side in December 2014. 

Reeves proposed to Julianne, who has appeared in films including Awakened and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, eight months later in Miami. 

By November 2015, they were tying the knot in a Park Avenue church, with Julianne stepping out of a Rolls-Royce built for the grandchild of Queen Victoria. 

It was a dream society wedding, one even mentioned in the New York Times. But there were cracks in the relationship long before Julianne and Reeves said ‘I do’. 

Reeves allegedly had a history of abusing drugs, including cocaine and ketamine, according to claims made in documents filed in Reeves’ defamation case.

One video shows Reeves snorting what appears to be ketamine and cocaine from a glass dish in the kitchen. 

In another clip, he appears to be mixing ketamine around a glass dish and complaining that it’s not dissolving in the water.  

It was a dream society wedding for the Park Avenue crowd, one that was even mentioned in the New York Times

Julianne and Reeves first met at a mutual friend’s birthday party in the Upper East Side in December 2014. He proposed in Miami eight months later 

 Once happy couple: Julianne Michelle and Karl Reeves kissing on their wedding day

By November 2015, they were tying the knot in a Park Avenue church, with Julianne stepping out of a Rolls-Royce built for the grandchild of Queen Victoria

‘The K, that’s the only thing I really freakin’ want,’ the millionaire CEO appears to say in a third clip as he talks about buying class-A drugs cocaine and ketamine.  

On February 22, 2017, Julianne alleged that Reeves tested positive for ‘exorbitant amounts of benzodiazepines – a class of drugs used to treat anxiety – as well as cocaine’, according to an affidavit filed by Julianne in the New York State Supreme Court.  

Julianne claimed that she was told by one of the individuals who reviewed Reeves’ test results that the presence of benzodiazepines ‘in his system was so severe that she was genuinely surprised that he had even been “conscious” at the time he was tested”. 

She also claims Reeves admitted to using ‘whip-its’, compressed nitrous oxide canisters inhaled for a momentary high, to a CPS supervisor that same month. 

In a October 2017 sworn statement, Reeves’ ex-girlfriend Sophie English alleged that he was a ‘heavy drug user’ with a ‘serious dependency on alcohol and pain killers’. 

English also claimed she saw him purchase ‘illicit substances from his drug dealer’ and has said he was ‘pretty reliant on Oxytocins’ and that ‘his whole personality changed’. 

 But court documents allege that Reeves would later threaten to kill Julianne as well as her Countess Joycelyn Engle and Count Joseph Di Palma (all pictured) 

 Reeves had a long history of abusing drugs, including cocaine and ketamine, according to an affidavit Julianne filed in the New York State Supreme Court

Much like Julianne, English had first found Reeves to be ‘incredibly charming’ and highly intelligent. 

But as they dated on and off for four years, English said she discovered a ‘very dark disturbing evil side’ to him. 

In allegations made in court documents, she claimed that Reeves wanted his future children to look ‘exactly like him’ and wanted to grow them in test tubes so he could be ‘fully in control of their fate’.

Reeves (Pictured in his office) is the owner of elevator installation company CEI New York

Julianne is a well-known socialite and philanthropist among the Park Avenue set. She is pictured here recently with Donald Trump Jr and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle 

‘Only a few people know the messed up insides of Karl Reeves, it’s quite scary,’ she said.   

According to documents filed in the Supreme Court, Julianne claimed Reeves is a Neo-Nazi, homphobic, domestic violence abuser and child abuser. 

Reeves also took issue with Julianne’s career as an actress, so much so that she allegedly gave up her film career for years. 

Before they got married, Reeves allegedly called Julianne a ‘whore’ and a ‘prostitute’ for being an actress and would fly into jealous rages over scenes she had filmed five to 10 years before they had even met, she claimed in court papers. 

Reeves became especially obsessed over a clip of Julianne’s from the film Polycarp – later renamed Kinky Killers – that showed a simulated sex scene that contained no nudity but ended up on the site PornHub. 

The CEO’s friend noticed the clip on the site around three months after he began dating Julianne. But he continued to bring it up well into their marriage and her pregnancy. 

In the audio clip recorded in August 2016, when Julianne was seven months pregnant, Reeves goes on another expletive-filled rant about the scene before threatening to kill Julianne’s mother and then telling her he doesn’t ‘even want to have a kid’.

‘It’s not real, it’s make believe,’ Julianne tells her husband in the clip. 

‘Oh, a make believe f**k scene, oh. Why don’t you suck d***k, why don’t you f**k n*****s, why don’t you give blowjobs, why don’t you get f****d in the a**,’ he tells her. 

‘Most movies have sex scenes in them,’ she shoots back. ‘You can’t say that there’s no difference between movies and reality.’ 

Reeves especially took issue with Julianne’s career as an actress, so much so that he allegedly had to see a cognitive behavioral therapist over it while she effectively gave up her film career for years

Reeves became especially obsessed over a clip of Julianne’s from the film Polycarp – later renamed Kinky Killers – that showed a simulated sex scene that contained no nudity but ended up on the site PornHub

Julianne was eventually able to get the clip removed from PornHub because there was no nudity and it was ‘false advertising’

‘Why don’t you f**k in a movie with black people?’ Reeves tells her in the audio recording. ‘You’re just on Pornhub.’   

Reeves then launches at attack on Julianne’s mother, Countess Joycelyn Engle, saying she can ‘go f**k herself and die’. 

‘I am going to rip her f*****g head off,’ he exclaims as Julianne begins to cry. 

‘Seriously, I’ll kill both of them,’ he continues, appearing to refer to Julianne’s mother and father Count Joseph Di Palma. ‘F*****g people, f*****g try to spring your parents up here on me?’ 

‘Why don’t you call your parents to come get you. Meanwhile, I have to watch you f**k every day on PornHub. I have to watch you f**k somebody else all the f*****g time.’ 

‘No, you don’t Karl,’ Julianne shoots back. ‘It’s not in your face.’ 

‘You know Julianne, the life you choose is the life you take. I don’t even want to have a kid,’ Reeves tells her. 

Julianne was eventually able to get the clip removed from PornHub because there was no nudity and it was ‘false advertising’.  

That same month, Reeves was once again recorded threatening to kill Julianne’s mother Joycelyn Engle. 

In the clip, Reeves can be heard calling Engle ‘Miss Tough B***h-Oh’ and a ‘c**t’ before screaming ‘I’ll f*****g kill her’. 

In a 2017 Domestic Incident Report, Julianne told police that he was ‘usually inebriated’ on cocaine, ketamine, alcohol, Seroquel – a drug used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar, or depression – or the anxiety drug Atvian.   

Julianne later told officers that Reeves tried to strangle her in front of their daughter when she was two months old. 

Things came to a head on January 23, 2017, when Julianne called the police after Reeves allegedly swung at her while she was holding their daughter and then pushed her into a dresser. 

Julianne told police that she had been studying for her masters degree in social work from Columbia University when Reeves came into the room and began to ‘verbally abuse’ her. 

She tried to go into the bedroom of their Park Avenue home to get away from him while holding their baby daughter in her arms. 

Julianne alleges that Reeves then ‘swung his arm in her direction, missing her’. She then told him she was going to take her daughter to their mother’s house, which upset him. 

Julianne told police Reeves tried to strangle her in front of their daughter when she was two months old. Things came to a head January 23, 2017, when Julianne called police after Reeves allegedly swung at her while she was holding their daughter and pushed her into a dresser

After she put their daughter in her crib, she claims Reeves pushed her into a dresser, ‘causing a welt and substantial pain to her arm’ while their daughter was just a few feet away, according to the Domestic Incident report.

Police on the scene found three Alprazolam pills, used to treat anxiety, in Reeves’ pants pocket. 

He was charged with two counts of third-degree assault, one count of endangering the welfare of a child, one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance, one count of second-degree aggravated harassment, one count of third-degree attempted assault, and one count of second-degree harassment.   

Yardley Pierre, the couple’s babysitter since September 2017, helped facilitate visitation exchanges after Julianne and Reeves separated.  

Julianne and her parents also had various order of protections taken out against Reeves in 2017 and 2018 

The babysitter said she saw Reeves following her, Julianne, and Julianne’s parents ‘numerous times’ during this period. 

In November 2017, she claims to have seen Reeves in the ‘backseat of various vehicles’ outside of Julianne’s parents’ home. 

During another instance, Pierre claims that Reeves followed her and Julianne’s mother after they picked his daughter up from his lobby. 

‘He was staring at us with a disturbed look and followed us for several blocks until we finally lost him,’ she wrote. 

Pierre said Julianne and her parents spotted Reeves circling outside their house numerous times and eventually reported him to police. 

Julianne and her parents also had various order of protections taken out against Reeves in 2017 and 2018. 

In April 2017, texts that were attached as exhibits in Julianne’s Supreme Court filing also reveal that Reeves threatened that he was ‘going to kill that f*****g c**t of a mother’, in reference to her mother. 

‘She will f*****g have to leave the country,’ he wrote. ‘I will put that dumb. C**t of a mother on Page Six,’ he wrote. 

‘I hope you twitch (sic) yourself to death you sick f**,’ read another text that appeared to be directed toward Julianne.     

Julianne claims that Reeves has repeatedly threatened to kill her parents and according to documents filed in Reeves’ defamation case, threatened to harm the baby.

‘I am going to kill you,’ he told Engle in a ‘very calm voice’, according to court documents.  

He was also arrested in February 2017 after police discovered he did not have a New York license for a handgun he kept in the home (although he had a license for the gun in Rockland County).

Reeves claimed in a defamation suit against Julianne that she ‘engineered’ to have him arrested five additional times in the span of 12 months following.

In addition to allegedly threatening to kill her mother,  arrested for being in possession of prescription pills without being able to verify validity of possession and possession of a firearm without a NYC license, Reeves was arrested after he allegedly threatened to kill her parents while they stood outside the five-star Carlyle Hotel. 

In September 2017, the charges were dismissed on the condition that Reeves comply with an order of protection against her and their daughter.  

The CEO claimed in his defamation suit, which was filed in January, that Julianne then attempted to have him arrested again in January 2018 because she saw ‘the writing on the wall and the inevitable conclusion that [he] was in fact the better, more capable and fit parent’.    

He dropped the defamation suit against Julianne on the same day DailyMail.com reached out to him for comment. In his court filings, Reeves indicated he would address her false claims against him in their divorce proceeding. 

Both Julianne and Reeves are fighting for full legal and physical custody of their daughter. 

The family court currently allows Reeves to have three overnight visits and a dinner per week.