Something of a pattern seems to be developing with flashy real estate guy Patrick Carroll.
Twice now the swaggering businessman has splashed serious cash and looked like a big shot in front of a crowd — only to back out later when nobody was watching.
About this time last year we reported that Carroll had bid a stunning $1.5 million in a charity auction for Unicef at a glittering gala attended by Leonardo DiCaprio, Jared Leto and former Vogue UK boss Edward Enninful — but then decided not to cough up, bizarrely calling the event’s organizers a “fraudulent organization.”
Now Page Six has learned that the Florida wheeler dealer recently spent a fortune at Tom Ford in hopes of being invited as a valued customer to the luxury brand’s Milan fashion show.
But after he and his girlfriend got the front-row treatment, he tried to return a bunch of the ultra-luxe duds that got him invited in the first place.
Sources tell Page Six that Carroll — who also memorably got into a brawl at another star-studded event and was accused of spitting on a restaurant manager — had made it quite clear to the famed American fashion house that he would like tickets to its Milan fashion show.
But we hear they told him that that is an honor that only the biggest spenders at their boutiques receive.
So our resourceful hero took the hint and shelled out a fortune on items including several gowns for his girlfriend, $19,000 cuff links, $2,500 sandals, a $10,000 leather jacket, and dozens of other head-spinning goodies.
And then, as the Milanese say, bingo! Tom Ford coughed up for first class flights to Milan for the couple, use of a chauffeured car, and front row seats near the Lauder family, whose Estee Lauder recently bought Tom Ford.
But seething sources tell Page Six that once they’d worn the clothes to the event, Carroll attempted to return many of the most expensive items, including the cuff links and gowns.
Sniffed a deeply unimpressed source: “He wants to let people know he’s very rich but then he wears clothes and returns them?”
Asked whether Carroll bought the goods to become a big enough spender to qualify for the tickets, a rep for Carroll told us the claim sounded “odd.”
“He is a very big [Tom Ford] client. And I’m sure he never felt pressured to purchase clothing because they gifted him the tickets.”
“He has always spent a lot of money on Tom Ford clothing. Its is one of his favorite designers.”
They added: “In fact he has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars with Tom Ford far before they gave him the recent tickets to their show.
“He can afford flights and tickets and hotel. They offered him tickets and flights and as a Tom Ford enthusiast he said yes.”
“His spending at Tom Ford in the last 6 years. It’s almost a million dollars that seems like a pretty big client to me. (He has proof of that).
“It doesn’t make sense that they are giving him trouble for returning his girlfriend’s clothes that she decided wasn’t her favorite. People return things all the time,” they added.
We’re told the company didn’t accept the returns, since it was quite clear they had been worn.
(Per pictures from their own fashion show, for example).
Responding to our request for comment, Carroll said: “F**k you, Page Six!”
He called the claims “untrue.”
“This is the biggest bunch of bullsh**t. I hope Tom Ford didn’t say this because it isn’t good,” he said, “I didn’t return anything. I think my girlfriend returned a couple dresses because she didn’t need the 18 evening gowns they tried to sell her.”
“I didn’t return anything I got, except $25,000 cuff links,” he added, “If you are salesperson and you are selling someone $25,000 cuff links, you should mention that…It’s like a watch or a car.”
“They just showed up at my house,” he claimed, “They have my credit card on file.”
He also shared an email from his accountant which claimed that he has spent some $800,000 at the brand since 2017.
In the Unicef debacle of last year, Carroll made the winning bids on a vintage car and a “’Top Gun’ experience” that included a ride in a fighter jet and fancy food, wine and accommodations in Burgundy, France.
After he withdrew the donation, Carroll told Page Six: “I sent the full amount of the donation through my bank and was quite surprised when it flagged the recipient as a fraudulent organization. That is because, as I later found out, the donation was technically not to Unicef but rather to the [gala’s] ‘membership committee’ and to the event promoters, which spent lavishly on the benefit itself. I was also told the donation was tax deductible, and shockingly that wound up not being the case.”
He added, “At that point, I made the decision that my philanthropic dollars would be better spent elsewhere.”
Meanwhile, we reported in 2022 that Carroll got the Italy-shaped boot from a party in Amalfi a couple of days before the auction after getting a little tipsy and having difference of opinions with security.
His lawyer told us at the time: “What was meant to be a fun night out for all in Capri became unnecessary drama. Everyone has spoken and things are good now.”
Also last year, property biz bible The Real Deal reported that Carroll spat in the face of a restaurant manager in Wynwood, Miami, after the manager intervened when Carroll attempted to hit on a woman who was on a date.
A rep for Carroll at the time said that Carroll didn’t actually spit on the manager, but only mimed spitting on him because the manager used “fighting words.”
He has also reportedly been banned from Major Food Group restaurants in Miami, the conglomerate that owns Carbone, among others.
Tom Ford didn’t get back to us.
