Social gadfly and heir to an Ecuadorian fortune, Fabian Basabe made the news again after being arrested over the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday. Basabe was stopped in his Hummer shortly after 1:00 am Wednesday morning and he reportedly failed a breathalyzer test. He has been charged with New York DWI, operating a vehicle without a driver’s license, reckless driving and running a red light.
Basabe, 28, gained notoriety on the club scene in 2004 after being photographed with young Bush twin Barbara straddling his leg on the dance floor of a New York City hotspot and ‘dipping’ her. He recently starred in a reality TV series, “Filthy Rich: Cattle Drive.”
His news making activities include a string of verbal battles with club bouncers and doormen. Most notably when he called the doorman of the Star Room in the Hampton’s a ‘negro’ after being tossed out for knocking over liquor bottles and swinging from the rafters like an orangutan. Basabe apologized, but his bad-boy reputation persists after recently being punched by the doorman at an exclusive club and responding with a multi-million dollar suit.
Basabe spent several hours in jail and then pleaded not guilty. His New York DWI defense attorney called the arresting officers ‘bumbling’ and said they used ‘antiquated and faulty equipment’ to test Basabe’s blood alcohol content. Busabe’s defense attorney went on to say that the police were more interested in ‘bagging a boldfaced-name defendant.’
The attorney says that a suspension of Busabe’s driver’s license was lifted last year, though a valid license for Basabe does not exist in the New York Division of Motor Vehicles database. Busabe himself claimed in an interview last December that he does not have a driver’s license.
