Good Chef, Bad Chef: Thief Chef Mario Batali Faces Sexual Misbehavior Charges
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, November 2, 2021
Previously, celebrity chef Mario Batali had plead settled a Class Action lawsuit instead of going to trial over substantiated accusations that he and his business partner had long been stealing employees’ pay. Now, he’s been credibly accused of sexual abuse and/or misbehavior – meaning that there was enough evidence for the city government prosecutor to bring charges against him.
He has paid dearly, financially, and reputationally.
Now, he has a lousy reputation.
And, it would not surprise me in the least to know that in some secret, surreptitiously clandestine way, he’s hiding, or protecting his money as best possible.
As I began to investigate the matter, I learned that on several occasions he has sexually abused female employees. At the hearing for one such incident, while he plead not guilty, and then paid several hundred thousands of dollars to settle, he said that, “My past behavior has been deeply inappropriate and I am sincerely remorseful for my actions.”
The first is a story from 2012.
The most recent story appears at the bottom, below the image of him, and is about his arraignment on indecent assault and battery charges stemming from allegations that he forcibly kissed and groped a woman after taking a selfie with her at a Boston restaurant in 2017.
Batali must see the light at the end of the tunnel… and, it’s a train headed straight toward him.
Mario Batali Exits His Restaurants
From
The 20-year partnership between the celebrity chef Mario Batali and the Bastianich family of restaurateurs was formally dissolved on Wednesday, more than a year after several women accused Mr. Batali of sexual harassment and assault.
Mr. Batali “will no longer profit from the restaurants in any way, shape or form,” said Tanya Bastianich Manuali, who will head day-to-day operations at a new company, as yet unnamed, created to replace the Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group.
The new company will operate the group’s remaining 16 restaurants under a new management and financial structure. Mrs. Bastianich Manuali and her brother, Joe Bastianich, have bought Mr. Batali’s shares in all the restaurants. They would not discuss the terms of the buyout.
Several famous chefs and restaurateurs have recently been accused of sexual harassment, but Mr. Batali is the first to surrender all his restaurants.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/dining/mario-batali-bastianich-restaurants.html
Thief Chef Mario Batali
In Proverbs, the Good Book says “Excuses might be found for a thief who steals because he is starving.
“But if he is caught, he must pay back seven times what he stole, even if he has to sell everything in his house.”
I would hardly imagine Mr. Batali qualifies as “starving.”
What, then, should his punishment be?
Mario Batali Agrees to $5.25 Million Settlement
Over Employee Tips
By Benjamin Weiser, Associated Press
March 7, 2012, 6:10 pm
“The celebrity chef and restaurateur Mario Batali and a business partner have agreed to pay $5.25 million to resolve a lawsuit filed on behalf of waiters, captains and other employees who claimed that his restaurants had illegally confiscated part of their tips to supplement their profits, court papers show.
“The proposed class-action settlement, which must be approved by a judge, could cover about 1,100 employees, including servers, busboys, runners and bartenders who worked at the restaurants, in some cases as far back as 2004, according to a filing made Monday in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The suit is similar to others that have been brought in the past few years claiming labor violations by high-profile chefs and restaurants in New York and elsewhere.
“The lawsuit against Mr. Batali, filed in 2010, said that he and a partner, Joseph Bastianich, and their restaurants had a policy of deducting an amount equivalent to 4 to 5 percent of total wine sales at the end of each night from the tip pool and keeping the money.
“One bartender was told that “it was a policy across the Batali restaurant group” and that the money “went to the house,” a judge, Richard J. Holwell, wrote in a ruling last May. At Tarry Lodge, in Port Chester, N.Y., a spreadsheet divided a night’s tips among waiters and documented a 4 percent deduction, Judge Holwell noted. At one staff meeting, an executive “refused to justify the policy and said it was not going to change,” the judge wrote.
“Employees were told the money was to cover expenses related to wine research and to cover broken glassware, the judge added. He made no findings on the merits of the case.
“Other Batali restaurants named in the suit included Babbo, Del Posto, Casa Mono, Bar Jamón, Esca, Lupa and Otto, all in Manhattan.
“Rachel Bien, a lawyer for the employees, and Carolyn D. Richmond, a lawyer for Mr. Batali, issued identical statements Wednesday, saying, “The matter has been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.” A spokeswoman for Mr. Batali did not respond to a message seeking comment.
“The lawyers for the plaintiffs may receive up to one-third of the settlement as legal fees, if the court approves, the papers show. The defendants admit no wrongdoing.
“Judge Holwell resigned last month to enter private practice, but another judge is expected to hold a hearing on the settlement proposal and then decide whether to approve it.”
Humiliated Celebrity Chef Mario Batali was convicted of stealing his employees’ tips.
Mario Batali to face April trial in sexual misconduct case
Associated Press
Tue, November 2, 2021, 2:39 PM
https://news.yahoo.com/mario-batali-face-april-trial-193921713.html
BOSTON (AP) — Celebrity chef Mario Batali’s trial on sexual misconduct charge in Boston has been set for April.
The trial will take place April 11 in Boston Municipal Court, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins’ office said Tuesday after a hearing.
Batali pleaded not guilty to indecent assault and battery on allegations that he forcibly kissed and groped a woman after taking a selfie with her at a Boston restaurant in 2017.
His lawyers didn’t respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday but have previously said the charge filed in 2019 is “without merit.”
Batali was once a Food Network fixture on shows like “Molto Mario” and “Iron Chef America.” But the ponytail- and orange Croc-wearing personality’s high-flying career crumbled amid sexual misconduct allegations in recent years.
After four women accused him of inappropriate touching in 2017, Batali stepped down from day-to-day operations at his restaurant empire and left the since-discontinued ABC cooking show “The Chew.”
He also apologized, saying the allegations “match up” with ways he has acted. “I have made many mistakes and I am so very sorry that I have disappointed my friends, my family, my fans and my team,” Batali said in an email newsletter at the time. “My behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility.”
In July, Batali, his business partner and their New York City restaurant company agreed to pay $600,000 to resolve a four-year investigation by the New York attorney general’s office into allegations that Batali, restaurant managers and other workers sexually harassed employees.
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