Exclusive | French chef dies after paying $210K – Business News
A French chef mysteriously died final month after he and his spouse plunked down more than $200,000 to open their dream restaurant in New York City — and now a “heartless” New York City landlord is refusing to refund the household’s life financial savings, The Post has discovered.
Francois-Tanguy Olivon and his spouse Manon Olivon had deliberate on transferring with their younger kids from France, to open Chez Fanfan within the stylish SoHo neighborhood.
That was after promoting their restaurant in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, final yr.
The Olivon household on the restaurant they owned in France earlier than it was bought. Manon Olivon
The couple had forked over a $166,000 deposit and $47,500 for 2 months rent for January and February to Robert Moskowitz, proprietor of New York-based Only Properties LLC, Manon Olivon informed The Post.
But earlier than they might open the brasserie at 510 Broome St., Francois-Tanguy disappeared during a trip within the south of France after making a frantic call to his spouse at 1 a.m. on Feb. 22, in keeping with native media experiences.
“He was shouting at me for help, to come and get him right away,” Manon stated on the time, in keeping with media experiences.
Manon by no means spoke to her husband again.
A passerby later reported seeing him on the night time he disappeared sporting a “completely torn” T-shirt. CCTV captured him falling off a bridge within the city of Bayonne. His physique was fished out of the Adour River 12 days later.
The heartbroken widow knowledgeable Moskowitz of the tragedy in a March 1 letter, asking that he return at the very least a portion of her life financial savings.
Francois-Tanguy Olivon Manon Olivon
“Today, I am not writing to a landlord – I am writing to a man. A man who, I hope can look beyond clauses and figures and understand that sometimes, life puts us through unimaginable trials that we cannot face alone,” she wrote.
“If you cannot return the full amount, then I beg you to at least return one month’s rent. It would be an immense help to me and my children.”
Moskowitz, nonetheless, refused to return any of the money. Instead, Only Properties’ lawyer performed hardball, threatening to carry the penniless widow accountable for your entire 10-year lease — which might complete $3 million — except she signed a “surrender agreement.”
“Refusing to sign the surrender agreement will not result in a return of your security deposit, but it will result in you being held fully responsible for all of the obligations set forth in the parties’ lease agreement,” Only Properties’ lawyer Nicole Waknine wrote within the March 3 letter to Manon.
The Olivions had signed a lease for this retail space at 510 Broome St. in SoHo. Google Maps
Manon ended up signing the give up settlement.
“I don’t have anything,” Manon informed The Post in an electronic mail. “I don’t have a house anymore because we sold it a while ago to move to New York. I no longer have a car either. I no longer have a job because my husband and I have sold our … restaurant in Brittany.”
She has began a Gofundme marketing campaign to help along with her bills. It had raised simply $550 as of Wednesday.
Manon Olivon along with her husband outdoors their restaurant in France. Manon Olivon
Moskowitz declined to remark by means of his lawyer.
“This scenario is highly unusual,” stated New York restaurant leasing lawyer Jeff Margolis, including that Soho is a sizzling real estate market the place it shouldn’t be tough to draw various tenants.
“There are a lot of landlords out there who would like to be helpful … and not take that cavalier or draconian position.”
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The landlord, he added, may have stated, “We are going to hold this money but let’s see if we can find another tenant quickly and give back some of the security deposit.”
Experts famous that Moskowitz did nothing unlawful in retaining the deposit and rent funds.
Still, different contractors who labored with the Olivons to open Chez Fanfan stated they forgave their charges after they discovered concerning the tragedy.
Francois holds his daughter. Manon Olivon
“I waived my legal fee,” liquor license lawyer Max Bookman informed The Post, including “you don’t collect money from a widow whose husband just died.”
“I’m living a real nightmare,” Manon informed The Post in an electronic mail. “On top of that comes the terrible weight of an insensitive, incomprehensible, heartless landlord who could care less about my situation and my pain and who doesn’t want to give me back even a single cent of my deposit.”
Last yr, Moskowitz made headlines for evicting a couple in a swanky, rent stabilized loft he owns at 177 Hudson St. as a result of his tenants – a high-powered couple – had been improperly itemizing the space as a pictures business and getting tax write-offs.
The household during one of a number of holidays to New York City. Manon Olivon
Manon Olivon is raising two younger kids alone now. Manon Olivon
The metropolis’s rent stabilization law requires an condo to be the tenant’s major residence.
“It should offend every taxpayer that such a fortunate couple sought to profit off a rent-stabilized apartment instead of simply using it as their primary home as the law required,” Moskowitz informed The Post final yr. “Stabilized rent was not enough for them, so they helped themselves to improper corporate tax deductions,” he added.
