Oil heir Sid Bass dumped partner of 10 years for – Business News
Texas billionaire Sid Bass abruptly dumped his longtime partner for one other lady after allegedly promising to supply for her for life — the most recent in what her legal professionals painting as a decades-long sample of the oil heir changing wives and lovers with new flames already ready within the wings.
Oona Sperr, a New York inside designer who says she spent more than 10 years residing with the 84-year-old Bass, is demanding at the very least $400 million in a bombshell federal lawsuit accusing him of reneging on guarantees of lifelong financial security and pursuits of their lavish properties.
The criticism, filed Monday in Manhattan federal court docket, portrays Sperr’s breakup as the most recent chapter in what her legal professionals call Bass’s historical past of “marriages, divorces, and repeated infidelities.”
Texas billionaire Sid Bass and inside designer Oona Sperr had been companions for more than a decade earlier than their bitter 2024 break up, in line with Sperr’s lawsuit. U.S. District Court
“Just as Sid had done to [his first wife] Anne [Hendricks Bass], he left his marriage to [second wife] Mercedes [Tavacoli Kellogg Bass] with another relationship already established,” the go well with alleges.
Sperr claims her decade-long partnership with Bass started in earnest in January 2014 with an invitation that may show bitterly ironic.
Over lunch at his Manhattan townhouse, Bass allegedly requested her: “How about you never leave?”
Sperr says she deserted her inside design profession to handle Bass’s households and accompany him around the globe in return for guarantees of financial assist and shared possession of property they acquired.
For more than a decade, they lived in what Sperr dubbed “Bass Land” — a rarefied world that included Manhattan mansions, a sprawling Colorado ranch, a non-public Gulfstream jet and the Bass household’s 21-mile-long non-public island off the Texas coast, in line with the criticism.
Bass allegedly referred to Sperr as “Mrs. Bass” whereas touring, purchased her a 25-carat diamond for $2.1 million sized for her left ring finger and later gave her a 20-carat emerald for $1 million — the identical kind of gemstone he allegedly famous he had given every of his earlier wives.
Bass and Sperr divided their time amongst lavish properties in New York, Texas and Colorado, in line with the lawsuit. U.S. District Court
But over breakfast at their Pagosa Springs, Colo., home on Sept. 3, 2024, Bass allegedly delivered a dramatically totally different message.
“I want a separation. You are to pack and leave,” Bass allegedly advised her.
Sperr claims Bass initially supplied her $50 million, a Manhattan home, one other property, continued help from his workers and care for her aged mom.
When Sperr requested whether or not one other lady was concerned, Bass “vehemently denied it,” in line with the go well with.
Bass allegedly purchased Sperr a $2.1 million, 25-carat diamond custom-sized for her left ring finger during their relationship. U.S. District Court
Weeks later, whereas packing in Colorado, Sperr claims she overheard Bass talking to artwork adviser Althea Viafora Kress on his headphones, calling her “sweetheart” and exclaiming: “You’re my gal!”
She allegedly heard them discussing Viafora Kress transferring into the Colorado home days after her departure.
The criticism claims Viafora Kress demanded that Sperr’s possessions be eliminated, that Bass stop talking on to her and that he not drive her to the airport.
Bass however drove Sperr to the airport on Sept. 30, 2024 — the couple’s final day collectively, in line with the go well with.
The saga took one other weird flip the next yr.
Althea Viafora Kress, pictured proper with Joel Yoss at a 2010 Studio Museum in Harlem gala, is accused in Oona Sperr’s lawsuit of interfering in Sperr’s decade-long relationship with billionaire Sid Bass. Patrick McMullan through Getty Images
Sperr says she obtained a six-sentence electronic mail titled “News” from Bass’s account on Aug. 22, 2025, saying that he had married Viafora Kress on Aug. 9 on the Bass household’s San José Island compound.
But Sperr alleges Bass neither wrote nor despatched it.
Instead, she claims Viafora Kress “used Sid’s account to announce her own purported marriage to him.”
The criticism goes as far as to call the nuptials a “coerced ceremony” and “sham marriage ceremony,” alleging that Viafora Kress more and more remoted Bass from longtime associates and staff and exerted control over his communications, family and spending.
The go well with alleges Bass had suffered at the very least three mini-strokes and that a physician advised him and Sperr in 2019 that a mind scan confirmed abnormalities according to a “particularly pernicious form of Parkinson’s disease.”
Sperr additionally alleges Bass’s consuming elevated during the pandemic to as a lot as two bottles of wine on most days as she noticed adjustments in his judgment, temperament and reminiscence.
Anne Hendricks Bass (seen left with Julian Lethbridge in 2010) was Sid Bass’s first spouse and the mom of his two daughters. / SplashNews.com
The criticism reaches a long time into Bass’s romantic historical past to assist its claims of a sample of infidelity.
His first marriage to Anne unraveled amid his relationship with Mercedes within the Eighties, when each Bass and Mercedes had been married to different people, in line with the submitting.
Sperr claims Bass later advised her that by the time his divorce from Anne was nearing completion, he no longer needed to marry Mercedes however felt unable to back out as a result of he had induced her divorce.
In one of the go well with’s most extraordinary allegations, Sperr claims Bass advised her that during his divorce from Anne “he had paid Anne’s psychiatrist to inform Sid about Anne’s sessions.” Anne died in 2020.
Bass married Mercedes in 1988, however Sperr alleges he later had a secret relationship with one other married lady, Patricia Zohn Pfeiffer.
Mercedes Tavacoli Kellogg Bass was Sid Bass’s second spouse, whom he married in 1988 after their relationship helped unravel each of their earlier marriages. Getty Images
The criticism claims Pfeiffer subsequently stalked Bass and Sperr across the Upper East Side and that Bass finally introduced her with agreements designed partly to “secure her silence regarding the affair.”
Sperr additionally alleges Bass bragged about “how brilliantly he manipulated Mercedes through their divorce” by sustaining their life collectively whereas promising a future friendship he allegedly had no intention of retaining.
Bass finally retreated even from the $50 million breakup package deal he initially supplied Sperr, in line with the criticism.
A proposed “Maintenance Agreement” as a substitute supplied $5 million yearly for 10 years, tenancy slightly than possession of a Manhattan home and fewer of the opposite advantages Sperr claims Bass had promised.
Sperr sued Bass for breach of an alleged oral settlement and different claims and Viafora Kress for alleged tortious interference, amongst different claims.
“This is a case about broken promises,” Robbie Kaplan, Sperr’s lawyer, advised The Post in a assertion.
Anne Hendricks Bass, Sid Bass’s first spouse, had two daughters with the Texas billionaire earlier than their marriage broke down amid his relationship with Mercedes Bass. / SplashNews.com
“Sid Bass is a billionaire at the very least 4 instances over. Oona is the lady who spent a decade making Sid’s life handy — abandoning her profession, managing their shared properties and affairs, caring for him via his severe diseases — all as a result of Sid agreed that he would take care of her and her 96-year-old mom no matter what.
“After accepting all the benefits, Sid abruptly ejected Oona, breaking his promises to her,” Kaplan added.
“Because Sid has failed to keep his word, Oona, now 64 years old, had no choice but to bring this case.”
The Post has sought remark from Bass and Viafora Kress.
