For 15 years Rye Brook restaurateur Roberto Delledonne ran the grand Remi restaurant in Manhattan, with all the trappings of success.
But lawsuits with employees and his landlord and tax problems with the state encumbered his success and led to the closing of Remi 18 months ago.
On June 9, Delledonne petitioned U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains for personal Chapter 7 liquidation, listing the restaurant”™s tax and legal obligations that undermined his success.
He declared $17,270 in assets and more than $5.7 million in liabilities.
Delledonne and partners bought the restaurant in 2005. Remi, at West 53rd Street and Avenue of the Americas, a block away from The Museum of Modern Art, was styled as a fanciful Venetian dining destination.
Employees sued him in 2009 and again in 2019 for overtime and minimum wage violations.
His landlord sued him in 2019 for defaulting on the lease, and this past February a judge ruled that Delledonne owed the landlord $2.1 million that he personally guaranteed. He lists the debt as disputed, in the bankruptcy petition.
The New York Department of Taxation and Finance ranks him as the state”™s 67th worst individual scofflaw. As of last month, he owed nearly $1.9 million in state taxes, according to the state delinquent taxpayer report, but the total could be considerably more, or less, depending on how much interest has accrued or how much has been paid off the original tax liens. He lists the debt as $1.3 million on the bankruptcy petition and characterizes it as disputed.
Delledonne”™s personal assets consist primarily of a life insurance policy valued at $16,420. He lives in a 6,400-square foot, four bedroom, 5 bathroom house worth $1.6 million, according to Zillow. The house has been owned by his wife since 2010, according to Westchester property records.
Besides the tax and landlord debts, he owes about $1.7 million on a real estate mortgage he co-signed, $561,000 to food and supply vendors, $92,500 on credit cards, and $27,000 to Mercedes-Benz Financial Services.
Debts owed to former employees are listed as disputed and the amounts as “not certain.” But according to a report filed Jan. 15 by a magistrate judge in Manhattan supreme court, he owes $871,395 to 21 former employees.
Delledonne is not employed, and the only family income is from his wife”™s $64,400 a year job as a bookkeeper-receptionist.
They spend more than $19,000 a month on expenses, according to the petition, with more than $15,000 going to home ownership costs. Their net monthly income, including his wife”™s after-tax income of $4,333, is minus $14,845.
She is not included as a debtor in the bankruptcy case.
Delledonne had been ordered to attend a contempt hearing on June 10 in Manhattan Supreme Court, for allegedly not responding to a subpoena for records in the landlord dispute. By petitioning for bankruptcy protection on June 9, the landlord lawsuit was stayed and efforts to collect the debt were stopped.
Delledonne is represented by White Plains attorney Michael H. Schwartz.
