The wife of an Upper East Side hedge fund billionaire grabbed a homosexual worker's privates and told him he needed a "good f---" to make him straight, according to a sexual harassment suit filed by the former employee. William Gamble, 47, accused Lisa Maria Falcone of trying force herself on him—then punching him in the gut when he said no.
A month after being hired to manager properties for Falcone and her husband Philip, reportedly the world's 296th wealthiest man, the couple brought Gamble to their vacation home in St. Barts. That's where Gamble claims Falcone stuck her hand down his pants. "She touched me, and I drew back and away from her ... I only wanted to work," he told the Daily News. He claims Falcone then said he could be made into a heterosexual and struck him three times, "forcefully enough to leave deep bruises on his abdomen," according to legal documents quoted in the Post.
In a suit seeking unspecified damages, Gamble alleges he was also subjected to homophobic comments and forced to work in a room that had once been relegated to the socialite's pet pig, Wilbur. "She treated [Gamble] like a barnyard animal," said Gamble's attorney, Jack Tuckner. The couple denied all of the allegations and said Gamble was in it for the money:
This is an absolutely false, baseless lawsuit which is nothing more than a transparent attempt by a disgruntled former employee, let go after two months, to extract money ... Phil and Lisa Maria have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind and any suggestion to the contrary is completely untrue, as are all the other allegations in the complaint.
