Dobbs Ferry couple loses $1.3M judgment over wine and liquor enterprise

A Dobbs Ferry couple has been ordered to pay creditors nearly $1.3 million for failure to repay loans in the latest of several judgments and accusations concerning their wine and liquor enterprises.

Marc and Julie Ravage and Pinnacle Wine & Liquor Inc. defaulted on the loans, according to a judgment entered April 15 by U.S. District Judge Nelson Roman.

He awarded $246,647 to Erik Bartone of Glastonbury, Connecticut, and $1,025,462 to his Bart Financial LLC of Cromwell, Connecticut.

Pinnacle Wine was formed in 2016, is owned by Julie Ravage, and operated from a storefront on Ditmas Avenue in Brooklyn.

Bartone loaned the couple $275,000 in 2017, and then Bart Financial loaned $300,000 and $600,000. The loans were secured by Pinnacle”™s business assets and by mortgages on the Dobbs Ferry home the Ravages bought in 2014 for $865,000.

The Ravages stopped making payments after May 22, 2018, according to the lawsuit, leaving a balance of more than $1 million and a default interest rate of 28 percent.

The Ravages asked the court in November for more time to respond to the allegations. Roman granted the request, but the couple never filed an answer to the complaint.

The lawsuit also names Brandon Belmonte of Manhattan as a defendant. He also did not answer the accusations, but the default judgment does not include him.

The default judgment is one of several awarded to companies that have done business with the Ravages.

Westchester Supreme Court granted a judgment against Marc Ravage in 2017 for nearly $115,000, for defaulting on a lease at the Crossroads Shopping Center in Greenburgh. The award included Ravage”™s Empire Wine & Liquor Superstore LLC of Pelham Manor, an Empire company based in Torrington, Connecticut, and INA Superstore Inc. in Trumbull, Connecticut.

Devcon Commons LLC of West Hartford, Connecticut, won a $136,922 judgment in 2017 against Marc Ravage, over unpaid rents on an Empire store in Enfield, Connecticut.

The Realty Associates Fund IX of Boston was awarded a $105,893 judgment against Marc Ravage in 2017 for nonpayment of rent on an Empire store in Glastonbury, Connecticut.

Last year, Marc Ravage signed a consent order with the Connecticut Department of Banking, acknowledging that he had sold an unregistered business and made unsubstantiated claims about the business”™ potential earnings. The violations concerned liquor stores in White Plains, Glastonbury and Greenwich, Connecticut. Brandon Belmonte was also named in the action and was identified as the “control person” of Empire companies in Connecticut and New York.

In February, Slocum & Sons of North Haven, Connecticut sued Pinnacle Wine and Julie Ravage in Westchester Supreme Court, claiming they owed $41,000 for work performed in 2017.

Also in February, Prospect Plaza Improvements LLC of Elmsford sued Marc Ravage in Westchester Supreme Court to enforce a $200,000 judgment issued by a Hartford  Connecticut Court, concerning an Empire store.