Apparel mogul and former Nets co-owner is suing Citibank to recover 29 million credit card points

Apparel mogul Arthur “Artie” Rabin, an early investor in the Brooklyn Nets who sold his massive Hamptons estate for nearly $120 million last year, claims he was wrongfully deprived of nearly 30 million rewards points – reflecting spending in million euros – after Citibank “unceremoniously fired” him.

Rabin is now asking a judge to reverse Citi’s “draconian action to unilaterally close his credit card account” and force the financial services giant to restore the 29,891,963 ThankYou points he earned over a decade.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday and obtained by The IndependentRabin says Citi has refused to budge ever since it kicked him to the side of the road in August. The card had a credit limit of $2 million, and Rabin, a Citi Prestige cardholder since 2015, used it for purchases worth $200,000 to $300,000 each month, according to the lawsuit. Citi violated a number of consumer protection laws by invalidating Rabin’s arguments, the lawsuit says, “all to his extreme detriment and embarrassment.”

“We certainly regret any inconvenience or difficulty caused to you by the closure of your above-mentioned account and the loss of the accumulated ThankYou points,” Citi said in a letter to Rabin last month, concluding that its points “for Time of closure forfeited” are time of closure.”

On Friday, Larry Hutcher, Rabin’s attorney in the matter, described Citi’s behavior toward his client as “abhorrent.”

“Citibank’s arbitrary decision to simply terminate Mr. Rabin’s account and essentially steal 29 million points from him is abhorrent and beyond unfair,” Hutcher said The Independent. “We will continue to follow this up to ensure he receives everything he is entitled to. If they manage to take away someone’s 29 million points, they can do it to anyone at any time. Therefore, we believe this is an important issue that needs to be addressed.”

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Rabin’s lawsuit calls him “a major and highly successful businessman,” which may understate his position in the world of the One Percent. When former Brooklyn Nets star Jason Kidd was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame, he was said in his acceptance speech that Rabinwho founded Wear Me Apparel in 1972, was “like a father to me.” Rabin has close ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton and was behind the launch of Beyoncé’s first clothing line. His son Jason, who now runs the family business, owns a home on Fisher Island, the private enclave in South Florida known as the fourth richest zip code in the United States.

Citi’s ThankYou Rewards program is one of the “most valuable anywhere” and features partnerships with 17 airlines and hotels, Rabin’s lawsuit says. She acknowledges that, according to ThankYou Rewards’ terms and conditions, if Citi closes an individual’s account for any reason other than inactivity, the cardholder’s points “will be immediately lost, unless prohibited by law.”

About a year ago, Rabin discovered about $30,000 in unauthorized withdrawals on his bank statement, which Citibank promptly reversed, the lawsuit says. From then on, when bogus charges appeared periodically, Rabin notified Citi, the card was canceled, the charges were reversed, and Rabin was issued a new card with a new account number “to prevent further fraud,” the lawsuit says.

“However, in a classic victim-blaming case, Citibank has since dismissed a number of these disputes, despite the fact that the amount in question (approximately $150,000) compares favorably with the amounts that Mr. Rabin claimed for it “One card every year since 2015,” the lawsuit continues.

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Instead of conducting an “adequate investigation” into the disputed allegations, as required by law, Rabin alleges in the lawsuit that Citi “adopted the false position that Mr. Rabin approved the disputed transactions and took the draconian action of blocking Mr. Rabin’s business unilaterally close his credit card account and declare his over 29 million ThankYou® points to be completely forfeited.”

“In the meantime,” it continues, “Citibank continues to bill Mr. Rabin for the balance shown on the statement, including the unauthorized charges, plus interest.”

The heart of the lawsuit can be traced back to early August, when Citi told Rabin it would not reverse a disputed $8,600 charge. A day later, according to the lawsuit, Rabin received two more letters from Citi that were identical except for the amounts in question, which now totaled $151,887.63. In a fourth letter, which arrived two days later, according to the lawsuit, Rabin was informed that his account had been closed and his ThankYou points mothballed “because you were unable to keep it safe.”

“No more transactions can be made on this account and all cards associated with it should be destroyed immediately,” the letter said. “Please note that you remain responsible for the remaining balance.”

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Rabin appealed the closure, pointing out that whoever used his card used different email addresses that were not his and asked Citi to reconsider his claim. At that point, Citi relented, the lawsuit says, telling Rabin that he was sorry he had lost his ThankYou points but that their “position remained unchanged.”

“We are unable to restore your account because it has been closed frequently over the past few months due to a lost/stolen card or unusual activity,” the denial letter reads. “…The frequent security lockouts of your account within a short period of time are a cause for concern and could result in additional financial losses to Citibank. We respectfully decline to pay out the 29,891,963 ThankYou Points accumulated in the above account as they were forfeited at the time of closure.”

Rabin’s lawsuit accuses Citibank of violating New York State banking laws and seeks an injunction ordering Citi to “discard 29,891,963 ThankYou® Points (Rabin’s) earned for a period of at least ninety (90). ) days to restore and activate” or pay him the $300,000 He says they have value, with a stated cash value of $0.01 per point, subject to Citi’s terms and conditions.

“Any reasonable investigation of the unauthorized charges would have resulted in their permanent removal from Plaintiff’s account, rather than the closure of the account and the forfeiture of over 29 million ThankYou® points,” the lawsuit states.

Rabin is also seeking the removal of the $151,887.63 alleged fraudulent charge and at least $600,000 in punitive damages.

A Citibank spokesman declined to comment.