An investment banker claimed he was forced to break into his ex-wife’s apartment because a sexy Instagram picture she posted online made him fear for his daughter’s safety.
Cuban-born Manuel Asensio, 61, who works as a money manager in New York, is charged with breaking into the Upper East Side home of his ex-wife Emilie Bosak on December 29 last year.
But his lawyer Andrew M. J. Bernstein says Asensio arrived earlier than scheduled to pick up their 11-year-old daughter because of a provocative snap Bosak had posted online.
That day, Asensio saw a picture of Bosak, a former model, posing in a bikini on the beach while smoking a hand-rolled cigarette.
Concerned about who was looking after his daughter, he went past the doorman of the building and went upstairs to the apartment, his attorney says.
Bosak’s mother was babysitting his daughter, but Asensio took the girl early.
‘On the date of the incident, [Asensio] committed no crime,’ Bernstein told the newspaper.
‘On the contrary, he acted as any responsible parent would under the circumstances. He did not know who, if anyone, was watching his daughter.’
In March, Asensio was arrested for burglary, endangering the welfare of a child and trespassing.
Prosecutors claim he had refused to wait in the lobby as instructed and had previously been told by his ex-wife that he was forbidden from entering her apartment.
Bosak’s attorney said Asensio’s ‘actions speak louder than words’.
In court papers, Assistant District Attorney Stephen MacArthur wrote that Asensio was ‘cursing and yelling’ as he banged on the door of the apartment and allegedly accused Bosak’s mother of kidnapping the girl and referred to his ex-wife as a prostitute.
All this took place while the child was present, he wrote.
Asensio and Bosak wed in 2003 before separating in 2007. Their divorce was finalized in 2013 – and he previously called their relationship ‘a marriage of convenience.’
In June last year, Asensio sued his ex-wife for defamation, making false statements and breaching the terms of their 2003 pre-nuptial agreement.
He also claimed she had ‘demonic capacities’ and had filed false complaints to have him arrested.
Bosak went to police three times between 2010 and 2014 claiming she had experienced domestic abuse at his hands, the New York Post reported.
She then obtained an orders of protections against Asensio, which he claims she used to ‘[fraudulently] gain custody of the child’, the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit stated.
Asensio, who is currently the founder, chairman and president of Asensio & Company, is next scheduled to appear at Manhattan Supreme Court facing charges for the December incident on Wednesday.
