A New York gallery owner has been accused of failing to pay a penny in child support for his ten-month-old daughter and suing the girl’s mother for telling people she was pregnant.
Karina Magruder, 33, claims she’s been left homeless and ‘broke’ after her ex-boyfriend, wealthy art dealer Robert Blumenthal, 36, who has art galleries in Long Island and Manhattan, allegedly refused to pay anything towards the care of his baby.
Magruder said that while Blumenthal lives the high life jet-setting round the world, she and his daughter are on government assistance.
Karina Magruder, 33, (left, with their daughter) claims she’s been left homeless and ‘broke’ after wealthy art dealer Robert Blumenthal, 36 (right) sued her
‘I’m broke. I cleaned out my 401(k) and sold every asset, including my jewelry,’ she told Page Six. ‘I’m couch-surfing with a baby. We’re on government assistance.’
Blumenthal’s family made a fortune in Miami real estate, and he personally owns ‘numerous houses’ and ‘numerous cars’, according to Magruder.
‘And he won’t pay child support. It’s unbelievable,’ she said.
Last month, Magruder revealed in a Facebook post that Blumenthal had filed a lawsuit against her in April, 2017, for reportedly interfering in his business because she had told his colleagues about her pregnancy.
‘My daughter’s father decided he would file a civil lawsuit against me,’ she wrote. ‘If anyone reading this knows of any man that has sued his child’s mother while she was pregnant with the child please let me know. It still blows my mind to this day and as far as I know it is still ongoing.’
Blumenthal argued in the lawsuit Magruder didn’t deal with the breakup well and had been making ‘salacious claims’ about him.
‘Magruder has not reacted well to the end of this personal relationship and in turn has begun contacting business contacts of Blumenthal,’ the lawsuit reads. ‘Magruder has been making salacious claims in an attempt to harm the business dealings of Blumenthal.’
Magruder (pictured while pregnant) said her ex had filed a lawsuit against her just a month before she gave birth, because she told his colleagues she was pregnant
A month after the lawsuit, Magruder gave birth. She says she invited the art dealer to the birth of his daughter, and had asked him to see his daughter, but to this date, he’d never met his little girl.
She said not only is she struggling to pay to raise her daughter on her own, but to pay legal fees to fight her ex in court.
‘He has not paid a penny in support and everyday that goes by is a struggle, albeit a joyous struggle,’ she wrote.
‘He has now chosen to create the most difficult and expensive process for his daughter to receive the financial support she needs.
‘At one point in this process I thought to myself “why am I wasting all of my money in attorneys for her” and then I was quickly scolded and told I would be doing a disservice to my child by not pursuing justice and that as her only advocate in his world I had a duty and obligation to her.
Magruder said to this day, her ex has never visited his daughter (pictured with her) or paid a penny in child support
‘I have now cleared out my 401k and sold every asset to my name to not only provide for my daughter on my own (with serious help from my parents), but to pay exorbitant attorney fees her father seems to enjoy to rack up. The very definition of gaslighting.’
Blumenthal’s lawyer, Donald Schuck, told Page Six: ‘Mr. Blumenthal is complying with all his obligations.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to Schuck for further comment.
Magruder and Blumental are due in court in New York on March 29.
Blumenthal, from Miami, made a big splash in the art world after moving to New York in 2013 to open his two art galleries. But he faced controversy after allegedly failing to pay the artists and was sued by acclaimed painter Dean Levin in 2015 over claims he hadn’t received payment for $200,000 worth of art sold at the gallery.