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Celebrity publisher Jason Binn has been acquitted of all charges brought against him in June when he was accused of molesting an underage female relative.
Binn, 54, was arrested in June for allegedly groping a 16-year-old girl’s buttocks after a family dinner at New York City’s upscale Cipriani restaurant on Valentine’s Day last winter.
The founder and CEO of the glitzy magazine DuJour was charged with forcibly touching private parts, endangering a child’s well-being and third-degree sexual abuse.
When the New York District Attorney’s office dropped the charges, Binn said the charges were made up by his estranged wife, Haley Lieberman Binn, amid their bitter divorce battle.
“I hope no one ever has to go through this nightmare,” Binn told Page Six.
Binn and Lieberman split in 2016 after 12 years of marriage and began divorce proceedings in 2020. The two have two girls and a boy together.
“As for the future of my relationship with my children, I will continue to be the best and most loving father a man can be,” Binn said.
Celebrity publisher Jason Binn was acquitted of all charges after being accused of molesting an underage female relative
After being acquitted, Binn said the charges were made up by his estranged wife, Haley Lieberman Binn, amid their bitter divorce battle
According to the June indictment obtained by DailyMail.com, Binn was charged with touching the minor “for the purpose of [self-gratification]’ and without her consent, saying the victim claimed that Binn ‘put his hand over her clothes and squeezed her buttocks’.
Photos from his arraignment showed that Binn – typically clean-cut and smartly dressed – was confused with his shirt not in his pants as he was read his charges in a Manhattan criminal court.
Binn vehemently denied the allegations, with his lawyer characterizing them as part of the nasty divorce.
“Unfortunately, this is the latest chapter in a long and bitter divorce proceeding,” Binn’s attorney, Valentina Shaknes, said after his arrest.
Binn to Manhattan Criminal Court in June after being charged with groping an underage girl
Binn maintained his innocence after his arrest in June, and his lawyer said the charges were part of an ongoing divorce battle
Binn has made luxury not only his lifestyle, but also his business. As founder and chairman of Niche Media, he has an estimated net worth of $50 million and is the man behind a string of “boutique” magazines, including Hamptons and Gotham.
Binn had previously founded and ran Niche Media, the former publisher of high-end magazines such as Los Angeles Confidential, Aspen Peak, Ocean Drive, Gotham and Hamptons, to name a few.
He owned properties in Tribeca, Aspen, Miami and Southampton, where he is a fixture on the Hamptons elite cocktail party and celebrity scene.
He was a guest at Kris Jenner’s birthday parties and posed for photos with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. He’s rubbed shoulders with Chrissy Teigen and John Legend, and he’s partied with Lenny Kravitz and Lionel Ritchie at Art Basel in Miami.
The Luxury Magazine Publisher With Kim Kardashian And At A Niche Media Party In 2010
Jason Binn with Kanye West at a DuJour magazine event in Los Angeles in 2017
Now billed as a “publishing legend,” he began his career with advertising agency D’Arcy Masius Benton and Bowles at age 23, having graduated early and magnum cum laude from Boston University’s College of Communications.
In 1992 he moved to Miami and founded Ocean Drive Magazine. Six years later, in 1998, he founded Niche, and a slew of other haute society titles followed, including Hamptons Magazine, Capitol File, Gotham, Los Angeles Confidential, Aspen Peak, and Michigan Avenue.
In 2005, he was profiled in Forbes Magazine’s “Forbes 400” and was named Ernst and Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year.”
Two years later, he was the only media member to be inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s “Advertising Hall of Achievement,” and in 2008, he was named to Crain’s “40 Under 40” list of successful entrepreneurs.
In 2010, he was named Chairman of Niche, the same year he was named Chief Advisor of online luxury retailer Gilt.
Jason Binn (second from right) pictured with Donald Trump and rock star Steven Tyler in 2008
Jason Binn and Beyonce Knowles at Gotham Magazine’s Annual Gala in New York City, 2008
His quarterly publication DuJour Magazine brazenly targets a readership of clients with a minimum net worth of $5 million.
To receive a copy of the magazine, one had to meet five of seven qualifications, including average net worth of $5 million and liquid assets over $1 million, average home value above $1.5 million, average income over $250,000, annual offline luxury purchases over $100,000 or annual online purchases and philanthropic donations totaling over $10,000.
Profiled by Forbes last August, the magazine praised Binn for his ability to network, broadcasting his focus on “connections” as the core of his success that saw his company grow from just five employees in 1992 to more than 300 employees. .
But as his professional fortune skyrocketed, Binn’s private life collapsed.
In the first issue of DuJour, he wrote, “Without the love and support of my wife Haley and my children, what you are about to see on these pages would not be possible. They are my partners for life.’
But it didn’t work out that way and the couple quietly broke up in 2016 without commenting on the reasons. Binn was married in December 2003 in a ceremony in Fontainebleau, Miami, to Haley Liebermann, 46, who previously worked in real estate. Her parents Diane and Alan Lieberman own the South Beach Group Hotels in Miami.