Bronxville business partners in Greek restaurant drama
A chef who invested $80,000 in a Bronxville restaurant claims his partners are diverting assets.
Tonin Mbrapshtia petitioned Westchester Supreme Court on Oct. 10 to compel OpaOpa Fresh Greek restaurant to produce corporate records.
Mbrapshtia wants access “not only to determine the value of his holdings,” the petition states, “but also to investigate the sources of wrongdoing within the corporation and take appropriate action.”
Faik “Frank” Berisha, one of the partners, said in a telephone interview that Mbrapshtia”™s accusations are untrue.
“He has access to the computers, the bank, everything he wants,” he said. “He can come today if he wants. He can come tomorrow. He has a key to the store.”
The corporation, Fresh Opa of Bronxville Inc., was formed in 2018, and OpaOpa opened in a prime spot, at the corner of Pondfield Road and Cedar Street, once occupied by Savanna at Home furniture store.
It is owned by Feim Berisha, Luan Berisha, Frank Berisha and Mbrapshtia.
Mbrapshtia claims that his $80,000 bought him a 30% share in the business, but the liquor license lists him as a 25% owner.
Mbrapshtia actually owns 24.35% of the corporation, Frank Berisha said. He was supposed to pay $24,000 for another 5% from Berisha”™s shares but has not done so.
Mbrapshtia claims that around May 2019, after working at OpaOpa as a chef for about a month, he noticed little or no cash being deposited in the bank account.
“Shareholders began tampering with checks and other monies in order to avoid tax and other financial liabilities,” his lawyer asserted in a June 15 letter demanding access to records.
“This is not how he wants to conduct business,” the letter states.
At some point, Mbrapshtia alleges, a relative of his partners, who works at a bank and who is not a shareholder, began signing checks and depositing money on behalf of the corporation, without the authority to do so.
Mbrapshtia says he has received no disbursements from the business.
He concluded that his partners were either not reporting income or had set up another bank account to hide assets, and that they were squeezing him out of the corporation.
“Whatever he invested,” Frank Berisha said, “his share is there. ”¦ Now he wants to push us and take our shares.”
He also said that Mbrapshtia was supposed to work at the restaurant.
“I should sue him,” he said. “He can come and work today. I need him six days a week. Like me, I work 100 hours a week. ”¦ If I leave, he loses everything.”
Mbrapshtia is demanding access to the balance sheet, profit and loss statement for the preceding fiscal year, all financial and banking records, commercial agreements, loan documents and applications and tax records.
He is represented by Manhattan attorney Andreas Koutsoudakis.