Who is Armie Hammer's father? Michael Hammer 'has mindset of teenage boy,' keeps 'sex throne' in office HQ
Even as Armie Hammer infamously continues to be embroiled in shocking claims of cannibalism, a bombshell new report revealed last month that his father, Michael Armand Hammer, has faced his own set of scandals throughout his life. The scandals included New York City's biggest art fraud and allegedly owning a "sex throne" which he kept in the Armand Hammer Foundation headquarters.
The ‘Call Me By Your Name’ star came under fire after unverified screengrabs of lurid text messages allegedly sent by Hammer between 2016 and 2020 were shared on social media in January 2021. These conversations that allegedly occurred between Hammer and multiple women via Instagram DMs centered on his sexual fetishes, from BDSM to “drinking blood”, “cutting toes”, and his alleged “cannibalism”.
The unnamed person who first shared the screenshots claimed she had an affair with Hammer for four years. She also claimed that she found five other women who all said they were involved with the actor. Since then, many other women came forward with their own claims about dealing with the actor.
RELATED ARTICLES
Who is Michael Armand Hammer?
Armie's father, Michael, is a businessman who is known for his ties to Occidental Petroleum. He is the son of Julian Armand Hammer and the grandson of industrialist Armand Hammer. He oversees the Hammer International Foundation, the Armand Hammer Foundation, and owns numerous businesses that include Hammer Galleries, and Hammer Productions, a television and film production company located in Los Angeles, California.
He was also the owner and chief executive of the presently defunct Knoedler art gallery, which closed in 2011 after purchasing and reselling forged paintings for $80 million. The paintings bore the counterfeit signatures of abstract expressionists such as Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock.
Michael inherited most of his family's fortune
According to Vanity Fair, Michael inherited the entire family business empire from his grandfather Armand who had made his fortune by investing his third wife's money in Occidental Petroleum. Armand had reportedly also carried out "wide-ranging grifts, including laundering money; using artwork to fund Soviet espionage; bribing his way into the oil business and even knocking off Fabergé eggs."
After Armand's death in 1990, it was revealed that he had left most other family members high and dry, including his own son Julian. He had left most of his $180 million fortune to his grandson, Michael. This led to rifts in the family that eventually reached the courts and the battle over the family estate rages on even today, more than 35 years later.
While Michael inherited two art galleries, two foundations and a sizable chunk of the multi-million dollar fortune, Casey - Michael's sister - told Vanity Fair that their father Julian had received just $250,000 of the fortune.
Michael's art fraud
In 2011, Michael's galleries became embroiled in a huge art scam that dated back almost two decades when the Knoedler Gallery and its former director Ann Freedman were sued for selling a fake Jackson Pollock painting. The gallery originally belonged to Michael's grandfather who had bought the business in 1971 for $2.5 million. and later passed on to his grandson.
After hedge fund executive Pierre Lagrange was sold the forged Pollock for $17 million, he sued the gallery and its director in 2011. A probe into the allegations uncovered an alleged $70 million fraudulent ring selling counterfeit paintings going back to 1994.
During the trial, it was claimed Michael had been using the gallery's funds for his personal expenses including two luxury cars and a trip to Paris, despite not being linked to the forgery scam directly. Michael never had to answer to the allegations as the case was settled just an hour before he was due to testify.
Michael has 'mindset of a teenage boy'
Insiders also claimed the 65-year-old "has the mindset of a teenage boy" and keeps a "sex throne" also called the "naughty chair" in the Armand Hammer Foundation headquarters, which features the family coat of arms and a cage underneath. He also had a fondness for kinky sex, with a former friend of Michael's saying he was "not the least bit surprised" when he heard the allegations about Armie's sex life.
Michael's former friend, as well as two other sources, told Vanity Fair that Michael bragged about having a sex throne inside the family business's headquarters. The throne in question was about "seven feet high, features a chair with a hole in the seat, a cage underneath, and a hook." In the report, a smiling Michael is pictured in a photo sitting on top of the throne while holding the head of a smiling blonde woman, who is sitting in the cage below.
Counsel for Michael Hammer and the Armand Hammer Foundation told Vanity Fair the claims about his sex throne and history with women are "absurd." "These questions, which ask about unsolicited gag gifts sent by friends, conduct that sounds pretty typical of recently-divorced people, and entirely legal financial transactions that were properly accounted for, are absurd," said the counsel. But friends told the outlet he would send x-rated photos to his friends and had engaged with "a string of women, illicit substances, and tattoos" after his split from Dru.