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A fashion company boss was allegedly spying on his models with a hidden camera in the changing room of his Chelsea office, according to one catwalker who quit in disgust.
Stefano Larese DeSanto, whose West 27th Street office, The Hive, serves as a “fashion design house” for individuals and businesses, admitted to placing the wi-fi-connected cam when freaked-out models found it under a table and called the cops, according to a lawsuit.
The alleged confession left Charlotte Cobb — an account executive who also modeled clothes for The Hive and who had recently used the changing room — “horrified” and “deeply disturbed,” she said in court papers.
Cobb was hired in May 2022, eager to make her way in the fashion industry when she began working for DeSanto and his wife Julia, Italian citizens who live in an $8.4 million Southampton estate on nine acres.
DeSanto, 60, “was difficult to work for,” and apparently grew increasingly paranoid, Cobb said in her Manhattan Federal Court filing, noting that he “began installing more and more cameras throughout the workspace, including cameras pointed directly behind the heads of staff members sitting at their desks.”
The camera was first found in the changing room in February, prompting the worker who found it to place it lens down so it couldn’t film anyone, Cobb said in her sexual harassment claim against DeSanto, his wife Julia, 57, and the business.
A week later the camera was found again, this time hidden under a table “at waist-height and focused on a spot in the room that offered the most space for an individual changing their clothes.
“Given its placement, the camera could serve no purpose other than to take images of unsuspecting individuals as they undressed,” Cobb said in court papers. “It . . . would not have been found unless someone got down on the floor and looked in the exact right spot.
“A pall was cast across the office as other employees and interns dealt with the implications of the changing room camera,” according to Cobb’s complaint, which noted she used the room to change clothes to model the outfits for potential buyers.
When Cobb realized the camera was still there, she called the NYPD, who sent officers to investigate. DeSanto, who apparently saw the cops show up thanks to his surveillance system, called the office demanding to speak with them.
Cobb claimed she could hear him demanding the police leave and his angry admission that “he placed the camera in the changing room,” she said in the litigation.
An investigation of the incident is ongoing, according to the NYPD.
The DeSantos and The Hive did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Cobb, who is seeking unspecified damages, is suing for harassment and discrimination.
“What happened to Charlotte is more than an invasion of privacy. It’s a blatant abuse of power and a failure to ensure workplace safety,” Cobb’s lawyer, Christian Hudson, said in a statement.