A Manhattan bank trader whose family owns a chic handbag line was busted for clobbering his wife with a purse — although he went with a more expensive brand, law enforcement sources said Wednesday.
Joseph Botkier, 69, former chief operating officer of his daughter’s trendy Botkier handbag collection, picked up a more pricey, metal-clasped Prada clutch to whack his wife in the face with during a boozy dispute in the lobby of their posh Tribeca building early Sunday, the sources said.
Botkier was charged with assault as well as criminal possession of a weapon, after cops found a loaded .32-caliber semiautomatic handgun during a search of the apartment, court papers state.
The incident began as Botkier, who now runs FX Direct Dealer LLC at 7 World Trade Center, and his wife, Maria, 67, were returning home at about 12:45 a.m. to their luxury building at 2 River Terrace, where actor Leonardo DiCaprio owns two condos.
The two got into a “struggle over a purse,” according to the documents.
Maria Botkier insisted to The Post on Wednesday that she — and not her husband — was the aggressor during the fight.
“I was attacking him and everything, beating him up, kicking him, ripping his pants apart,” Maria said.
“And he just didn’t know what to do. He just grabbed this [purse that] was on the seat and just, like, wanted me to stop. And unfortunately, he hit me over the forehead, like [a] heavy piece of metal.”
She refused to say what sparked the violence, which caused a gash over her right eye that required three stitches.
The wife said their daughter owns the Soho-based Botkier handbag line, which peddles purses from $228 to $448 to celebrities such as Beyoncé, Angelina Jolie, Vanessa Hudgens and Gigi Hadid.
Asked if her husband hit her with a Botkier bag, she replied, “No, it was Prada.’’
Maria Botkier said she hopes the case just goes away.
“In jeopardy is his job, his future . . . I do not want to press charges,’’ said the wife, whose hubby must stay away for now because of a restraining order.
Botkier was released after posting $8,550 cash bail at his arraignment Monday in Manhattan Criminal Court. His lawyer, Alex Spiro, said, “My client denies the charges, and we will fight them in court.”