The flamboyant co-owner of the Four Seasons restaurant, Julian Niccolini, found himself in a firestorm of trouble Wednesday — charged with sexually abusing a 28-year-old woman.
Niccolini, 62, was accused of groping the woman’s breasts, hips and butt, scratching her back while trying to remove her bra and forcibly touching her over her underwear during a May 9 party at the iconic restaurant on E. 52nd St., law enforcement sources told the Daily News.
Niccolini — whose restaurant is favored by Hollywood heavyweights, Wall Street titans and political powerplayers — used such force while trying to remove the woman’s stockings that she suffered bruises to her hips, a source said.
Another source said Niccolini initially made a pass at the woman near the restaurant’s bar area, but she resisted. Both Niccolini and the woman, who is the daughter of one of his business associates, were drinking but neither was intoxicated, the source said.
The stylish restaurateur — who’s made friends with regular diners such as Madonna, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and domestic diva Martha Stewart — surrendered to police Wednesday morning, showing up at the NYPD’s special victims squad with his lawyer. He was charged with sex abuse.
The alleged assault happened at a party dubbed Fête de la Fleur, in which the Four Seasons celebrated the wines of Burgundy with seven of the region’s most gifted winemakers.
Niccolini, who lives in tony Bedford in Westchester County, was released without bail following his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court Wednesday evening.
“I am not guilty. I look forward to getting back to work tomorrow,” he told reporters after the hearing.
His lawyer, John Moscow, said the incident took place in a crowded area but noted no one has claimed to have witnessed the alleged attack.
Niccolini, the married father of two grown daughters, and his business partner, Alex von Bidder, bought the Four Seasons in 1995, turning it into one of the city’s foremost dining establishments.
Designed by famed architects Philip Johnson and Mies van der Rohe, the restaurant features the legendary power-lunch destination the Grill Room, and the more formal and romantic Pool Room.
Running the restaurant like a three-ring circus, Niccolini has cozied up to celebrities, U.S. Presidents and foreign leaders.
“It would be astonishing to me that he would sexually assault anyone anywhere,” said legal powerhouse David Boies as he left the Four Seasons last night. “I cannot believe whatever happened wasn’t consensual.”
A native of Italy, Niccolini, the son of a grocery-store owner, immigrated to the United States in 1975.
Niccolini met his wife, Lisa, in 1979 when she was dining at the Four Seasons with her father, Sam Kearing, the city Sanitation Department commissioner during the John Lindsay administration.
With Kerry Burke, Reuven Blau
