Henry Silverman gets $1.6M in furniture hostage case

Hotel magnate Henry Silverman has been awarded $1.6 million after nearly 200 pieces of furniture purchased for his Bahamas estate were snapped up and held hostage in a secret location.

Designer-to-the-stars Richard Mishaan was ordered to pay the arbitration award to Silverman and his wife, Karen, for costs, damages and legal fees resulting from a broken design agreement.

The agreement had called for Mishaan to purchase about 300 items of furniture — at a cost of $2.1 million — for the Caribbean estate.

The couple retained Mishaan in October 2013, but parted ways a year later on learning the designer neglected to order or start work on about 50 items for which he’d been paid nearly $250,000.

However, after terminating the agreement, the Silvermans were denied access to items already purchased on their behalf and stored in a New Jersey warehouse.

The Silvermans eventually received a court ruling freeing the “wrongfully detained” furniture.

But Mishaan, an Architectural Digest-acclaimed designer who also decorated the Silvermans’ Manhattan and Hamptons homes, transferred 179 of the lot’s 300 pieces to another account at the same New Jersey storage facility.

The Silvermans sued and, after threatening contempt charges, got Mishaan and the warehouse to turn over the remaining goods.

A three-member panel fixed the $1.6 million award on Jan. 8 after seven days of hearings.

Most of the figure, or $869,000, is for legal fees and expenses. Another $246,000 is for reimbursement of items the Silvermans funded but did not receive and $203,000 in Bahamian value-added taxes that could have been avoided.

A spokesperson for Mishaan said the designer disagreed with the decision and is weighing an appeal.

Silverman, 75, founded Cendant in the early 1990s to acquire such hotel chains as Days Inn, Howard Johnson’s and Ramada. His new investment firm, 54 Madison Partners, opened last year.