He then casually strolls out of the salon before the footage shows the room becoming smoky, and a spark growing into a massive blaze.
Darnell Crosland, attorney for both Jenny and Nguyen Bui, told The Post that Nguyen had been “working all through the night” at the shop, “trying to paint and get everything ready,” when he apparently broke under the pressure.
“He was under pressure to get the place open,” Crosland said. “He was working all through the night and was drinking and he had a meltdown.”
“It just appeared that he was very frustrated and very upset that he was behind time on getting it open,” the lawyer added.
Footage shows Bui allegedly lighting napkins on fire and tossing them into a pile of boxes and stock in the center of Cianna Creations Nails & Spa.FDNY
The attorney claimed the video released by authorities “doesn’t show the whole picture” and while he admitted Nguyen “did light a fire,” he claimed “he didn’t intentionally try to burn anything.”
“He wouldn’t just burn the place down,” Crosland said.
Nguyen pleaded not guilty in Bronx Criminal Court, was released without bail.
He was ordered to attend an “alternative to incarceration” program, described by his attorney as “a court supported agency that provides mental health treatment for people who need it.”
Jenny, who has over a million social media followers, was never aware of her husband’s alleged actions, prior to the arrest, Crosland said.
“She’s very upset about this,” he said. “They’re not the type to do anything wrong and they didn’t do anything wrong intentionally.”
Footage shows the ignited fire quickly growing into a massive blaze. FDNY
The new salon, named after Jenny’s 17-year-old daughter, was set to open later this month – decked out with nail stations with white marble counters, elaborate chandeliers and $12,000 massage chairs with custom crystal sinks.
Jenny had already purchased $10,000 in OPI and Valentino nail polish products and $3,000 in Swarovski crystals for the space. But nearly everything was destroyed in the two-alarm fire.
“I lost it all,” Jenny, 54, previously told The Post, estimating that the blaze caused $100,000 in damage.
Bui had just landed at the airport after a visit to Canada, where she was caring for her sick brother, when a neighbor next door to the salon phoned her about the blaze, she said.
“I thought it was a joke,” Bui said. “I drove so fast I almost got into a car accident. Everything was gone – I was about to pass out.”
She said she’d even gushed to Cardi B – her client since 2013 – about her new place while styling her sculpted square-shaped nails, painted with silver chrome gel, for the VMAs.
The blaze caused $100,000 in damage, owner Jenny Bui said.Brian Zak/NY Post
“I was telling her how hard I worked on opening the salon,” Bui said.
In the aftermath of the fire, she set up a GoFundMe page in hopes of regrouping her losses.
By Wednesday, the page had only raised $8,458 of its $150,000 goal.
“I’ve been [remodeling] and fixing this location to celebrate my grand opening on October 27th, and because of this tragedy I lost it all,” she wrote on the crowdfunding page.
“I couldn’t even file for insurance because I wasn’t open for business yet, so sadly all my hard work and investment on all my beauty products got all burned down.”
Jenny Bui said she’d even gushed to longtime client Cardi B about her new space prior to the fire.Jenny Bui / Instagram
Jenny, a married mom-of-five whose shop had previous outposts in Harlem and in the South Bronx, said she is grateful for the donations from her loyal customers and friends.
“I am so heartbroken and sad that everything I worked hard for [was] all taken away,” she said. “[But] I’m so grateful for all of the support.”
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