A French chef mysteriously died final month after he and his spouse plunked down greater than $200,000 to open their dream restaurant in New York Metropolis — and now a “heartless” New York Metropolis landlord is refusing to refund the household’s life financial savings, The Submit has discovered.
Francois-Tanguy Olivon and his spouse Manon Olivon had deliberate on transferring with their younger youngsters from France, to open Chez Fanfan within the fashionable SoHo neighborhood.
That was after promoting their restaurant in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, final 12 months.
The couple had forked over a $166,000 deposit and $47,500 for 2 months lease for January and February to Robert Moskowitz, proprietor of New York-based Solely Properties LLC, Manon Olivon informed The Submit.
However earlier than they may open the brasserie at 510 Broome St., Francois-Tanguy disappeared throughout a trip within the south of France after making a frantic name to his spouse at 1 a.m. on Feb. 22, in accordance with native media reviews.
“He was shouting at me for help, to come and get him right away,” Manon mentioned on the time, in accordance with media reviews.
Manon by no means spoke to her husband once more.
A passerby later reported seeing him on the night time he disappeared carrying 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 least a portion of her life financial savings.
“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, nevertheless, refused to return any of the money. As a substitute, Solely Properties’ lawyer performed hardball, threatening to carry the penniless widow accountable for your entire 10-year lease — which might whole $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,” Solely Properties’ lawyer Nicole Waknine wrote within the March 3 letter to Manon.
Manon ended up signing the give up settlement.
“I don’t have anything,” Manon informed The Submit 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 assist along with her bills. It had raised simply $550 as of Wednesday.
Moskowitz declined to remark by means of his lawyer.
“This scenario is highly unusual,” mentioned New York restaurant leasing lawyer Jeff Margolis, including that Soho is a scorching actual property 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.”
The owner, he added, might have mentioned, “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.”
Consultants famous that Moskowitz did nothing unlawful in retaining the deposit and lease funds.
Nonetheless, different contractors who labored with the Olivons to open Chez Fanfan mentioned they forgave their charges after they discovered concerning the tragedy.
“I waived my legal fee,” liquor license lawyer Max Bookman informed The Submit, including “you don’t collect money from a widow whose husband just died.”
“I’m living a real nightmare,” Manon informed The Submit 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.”
Final 12 months, Moskowitz made headlines for evicting a pair in a swanky, lease stabilized loft he owns at 177 Hudson St. as a result of his tenants – a high-powered couple – have been improperly itemizing the house as a pictures enterprise and getting tax write-offs.
The town’s lease stabilization legislation requires an condominium 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 Submit final 12 months. “Stabilized rent was not enough for them, so they helped themselves to improper corporate tax deductions,” he added.
