Squatting nanny makes couple’s lavish $1M upstate NY farmhouse a living hell: report

A wealthy couple who thought they had found their dream nanny to help with their newborn daughter soon found themselves in a living nightmare when the caregiver allegedly refused to leave their lavish upstate New York home after things turned sour.

Barbara Molnar checked all the boxes that Jamie Carano Nordenström and her husband, Philip Nordenström, were looking for when she answered their ad on Nanny Lane in the summer of 2024, Jamie told the Cut.

The mom of four with two grandkids was “definitely, absolutely in love” with children, Jamie recalled to the outlet — and Molnar was hired part-time for 18 hours a week at $25 an hour.

Her experience as a parent and nanny was a much-needed asset to the new parents — she baked teething biscuits and read German books to their daughter, whom they wanted to grow up “at least” bilingual, in the consultants’ restored $1 million Colonial farmhouse in Hillsdale, according to the article.

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While the Nordenströms’ Nanny Lane ad said a “guest house is provided,” the couple was hoping to find a full-time caregiver for their little girl. But when Molnar asked if she could move in in December, they allowed her to, rent-free, as Jamie wanted to avoid giving her legal status as a tenant, the Cut reported.

It didn’t take long for things to implode, with Molnar soon defying every rule the Nordenströms had, Jamie told the Cut.

Though she was told the guesthouse was pet-free, Molnar brought her yellow Labrador, Hudson, and asked if her youngest son could visit over Christmas while on break from boarding school — but was still there come mid-January, Jamie added.

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Molnar also allegedly refused to clean up after herself in the shared spaces of the property — or if Hudson pooped in the garden or inside the home, Jamie alleged to the Cut.

Still, the couple tried to keep the peace, with Jamie telling the outlet that Philip and Molnar’s son would play chess together or they’d pay her to cook lavish French meals.

However, when the Nordenströms returned from Philip’s native Sweden in June, they found teenagers hanging out in and around their pool — and no room in either of their fridges for their groceries and a vacuum clogged with dog hair, per the outlet.

After shutting the party down, Jamie went to sleep, only to be awakened by Molnar making a racket in the kitchen, she told the Cut. She confronted the nanny, who was angry that her boss had embarrassed her son in front of his buddies.

“The whole situation was so bizarre. We didn’t really know what to do,” Jamie said.

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Molnar, however, told the Cut that the Nordenströms were aware Hudson was moving in with her — and that Jamie encouraged her to throw her teen an end-of-the-school-year party.

Jamie fired Molnar after the party — but begrudgingly offered to help her find a new place to live and pay her through the end of the month.

However, Molnar immediately cited tenants’ rights, telling Jamie, “You don’t know the law. This is my home, my furnished apartment. This is my designated parking space,” the Cut reported.

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“We knew, at that point, that she had engaged with us to gain access to our home,” said Jamie, who began looking deeper into the past of her suddenly changed nanny.

While Molnar had no criminal record, she did have a similar landlord-tenant dispute in 2021. Records from that case obtained by The Post show that Molnar wound up owing the couple $27,617 plus interest.

A lawyer confirmed that Molnar was a licensee — with permission to live rent-free from a homeowner without a rental agreement — under state law. So their attorney demanded the nanny leave via a 10-day notice — which passed with no sign of Molnar vacating.

There were run-ins with cops, both sides began filming each other, and the couple even called animal control about Hudson.

In one text exchange shared with The Cut, Molnar told Jamie: “I am interviewing for several jobs and once that is secured, I promise you, I cannot get away from you and this place fast enough.”

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“You are now night and day, 180 degrees from the kind and generous person you were when we started,” the nanny added.

The Nordenströms eventually filed a lawsuit against Molnar, where they claimed she was “a professional con-artist, with a well-documented history of ingratiating herself with well-off individuals, unlawfully occupying their property in bad faith, and then refusing to leave and abusing the protections afforded by eviction laws,” according to documents obtained by the outlet.

A judge ordered Molnar to vacate the premises on Sept. 10 and additionally slammed her with a temporary order of protection from the Nordenströms.

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When she finally left, Jamie found that the guest house was soaked in urine — and placed so precisely she assumed it couldn’t have all come from the dog, the homeowner told the outlet.

She said that the mattress and comforter were drenched, and the rugs were bogged down to such a degree that the liquid seeped through the floorboards.

“Maybe it was a bear,” Molnar told the Cut while claiming she’s the real victim, who’s “going to be completely discredited and slandered.”

The ousted New Jersey-born nanny — now working as a private chef in Hillsdale — said she was scouted as a high-end model and worked for French designer Guy Laroche before marrying Pasquale Fabio Granato. They had three kids and opened celeb Big Apple hotspot Serafina Fabulous Pizza. After their divorce, he sent their kids to European boarding schools, where she would visit them, she told The Cut.

She later had her youngest son with a French wine heir and is suing him for $5 million in child support, the outlet reported.

Molnar also filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Jamie in August, which her former boss called “baseless and frivolous AI-generated,” while calling her mentally unstable in a counter-filing.

Eventually, a judge placed restraining orders on both women.