Anthony Haden-Guest accuses Libbie Mugrabi of keeping 97 cartoons in Hamptons home

Art critic and cartoonist Anthony Haden-Guest has accused Libbie Mugrabi of keeping 97 of his original drawings and cartoons at her Southampton home for about 15 years after a planned sales exhibition never happened.

Haden-Guest, in a lawsuit filed Thursday in New York Supreme Court, asked a judge to order the immediate return of the works or award him $97,000 if they cannot be returned or were damaged. He is also seeking $18,000 for six months of creative work he says he performed for Mugrabi’s fashion brand, bringing the total claim to $115,000 before interest, costs and attorneys’ fees.

The dispute turns on what Haden-Guest said was a temporary art-world arrangement between two people who knew each other personally and professionally.

About 15 years ago, Haden-Guest allegedly entrusted the 97 drawings and cartoons to Mugrabi for the “sole purpose” of organizing a sales exhibition at her Hamptons home. The works were allegedly to be framed at Mugrabi’s expense, displayed for potential buyers and then either returned to him or sold at his direction.

The show never happened, according to the complaint. Haden-Guest said the drawings were framed and hung on Mugrabi’s walls, where they remained without his permission or payment.

“At no point did the parties agree—orally or in writing—that defendant would acquire ownership of the drawings,” the complaint says. “There was no contemplation whatsoever that defendant would own the drawings.”

Haden-Guest said he repeatedly tried to get the works back.

In September 2024, he wrote to Mugrabi that he had been offered two art shows and urgently needed the return of “the cartoons that you framed for a show and which are still hanging in your place in Sag,” according to the complaint.

Six days later, he wrote again, offering Mugrabi the chance to buy any works she wanted to keep for $750 each, described in the complaint as a reduced exhibition price.

Haden-Guest said he wrote again on June 17, 2025, after Mugrabi allegedly offered during a prior visit to return all 97 drawings. He accepted and asked to arrange a pickup time.

The works were still at Mugrabi’s Southampton property when the complaint was submitted, according to Haden-Guest.

The complaint also accuses Mugrabi of failing to pay him for work tied to her fashion and clothing brand.

Haden-Guest said the two had an oral agreement in early 2023 for him to perform creative design services at $3,000 per month. He said he worked for about six months on fashion looks, bags, hats, T-shirt designs, handkerchiefs, neckties and other brand-related projects.

The complaint said Haden-Guest sent Mugrabi a $3,000 invoice on March 20, 2023, and continued working on the brand until about September 2023.

Haden-Guest also said he and Mugrabi signed a profit-sharing agreement on May 2, 2025, covering net profits from clothing that used his artwork or cartoons. The complaint said that agreement shows his work was not being done for free.

Mugrabi denied the allegations in a statement to the New York Post, calling them “bogus” and saying she was not being sued by Haden-Guest. The court papers name Mugrabi as the defendant.

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