The knife is out.
Multi-billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s friend is at the center of a series of bitter lawsuits and a divorce – with allegations of sexual harassment and ugly death threats, according to court documents.
Benny Shabtai, 74, divorced his socialite wife of eight years Stacey Cooper Shabtai, 62, and is accused by his stepdaughter Samantha Cooper, 36, of sexually harassing him, he claims in a lawsuit.
He also claimed the restaurant boss threatened that he could make him “disappear” because of his relationship with an Israeli spy with whom he was friends with Epstein, according to court documents.
Shabtai, Stacey and Samantha Cooper, and then-business partner Michael Baccaro acquired the operating rights to open and run a Florida version of New York-based restaurant Serafina from founders Vittorio Assaf and Fabio Granato in 2016.
The celebrity-favourite mini-chain has hosted the likes of the Kardashians, Victoria Beckham and Tom Cruise among others for pasta and pizza among others and has grown to 30 branches in Manhattan and Boston and internationally in Japan, India, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Italy.
But now Shabtai has fallen out with the Coopers and Baccaro, with Shabtai first moving to divorce Stacey in October 2022 — followed by the billionaire firing Samantha from her role as manager of Serafina Miami.
Samantha countersued Shabtai and claimed in court papers that her stepfather demanded she “dress sexy” at work and claimed in the suit that he would “frequently touch her in inappropriate places in an unwanted and unwanted way.”
Multi-millionaire businessman and investor Benny Shabtai filed for divorce from his supermodel wife, Stacey Cooper Shabtai (left) last October. Soon after, he fired his daughter, Samantha Cooper, a manager and part owner of the Serafina branch of the international restaurant chain in Miami. Getty Images
And she accused him in court documents of saying that her children “will never have food to eat.”
“He traveled with his good friend Jeffrey Epstein to Israel where they held secret meetings with the Israeli military to fund covert operations and therefore, could endanger Samantha Cooper and escape if she did not do as he said,” the stepson claims in court documents. .
Multiple sources close to Serafina Miami’s family and business operations said Cooper was working more than 60-hour weeks, and cutting him from the company was out of “vindictiveness” after the divorce.
Shabtai was also accused of sexual harassment by a younger manager at the Miami outpost.
Samantha Cooper, Kristen Cooper, Casey Cooper, Martha Graeff and Stacey Cooper Shabtai. Samantha Cooper (left) manages Serafina in Miami. He and his stepfather, Benny Shabtai sued each other.Getty Images for Haute Living
Giuliana Roncarati Gotera, who resigned from Serafina Miami in June, alleged in an affidavit filed in Miami-Dade County as part of Samantha’s counterclaim that Shabtai “touched” her and made her feel “uncomfortable.”
And Stacey Cooper is also suing, alleging that Shabtai has failed to distribute years of profits between her, her daughter and Baccaro, and has instead kept it for herself. He claims Shabtai is trying to snatch Serafina for himself.
His suit alleges Shabtai filed tax returns “with false membership interests” taking tax benefits to which he was not entitled.
Benny Shabtai and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein traveled to Israel in April 2008, Page Six reported at the time, after Epstein pleaded guilty to one count of soliciting a minor and before he was given an 18-month light sentence that allowed him to leave. prison almost every day. AP Shabtai is also listed in Epstein’s phone book which lists the names and numbers of the rich and famous.
“Why did he do such a horrible thing to his stepdaughter, his wife? You have everything you need for 10 lifetimes. It’s the character of the person — not the money, it’s the character of the person I married,” Stacey told The Post.
Stacey Cooper’s attorney, Lorne Berkeley, claimed to The Post: “Benny did this to expand the Serafina restaurant and the name to have another restaurant without Stacey and without Samantha who are both owners and have an interest in the rights and name of Serafina here in Florida.
“That was agreed upon. Benny pushed them out of Serafina and moved forward with the restaurant concept without them.
The family feud is because of this Miami branch of Serefina. Photo Credit: Serafina Miami
“[He’s] trying to deny rightful ownership of Stacey and Sammy and the money they are entitled to.”
Baccaro, who doesn’t do litigation, told The Post, “It’s an all-out war. He is a terrible human being.”
Shabtai has denied all wrongdoing and told The Post that he fired his former stepson because of his performance as a manager.
Serena Williams with Stacey Cooper Shabtai. Stacey, who runs in elite social circles, is involved with expanding the Serafina brand to Florida.@staceyshabtai/Instagram
“I let Sammy go because he wasn’t performing,” he said. I took over myself. I have the right to do so. And he must return all properties as digital properties of the company.”
Shabtai has admitted to The Post that he is a friend of Epstein and visited him at one of his homes. The notorious pedophile died in his prison cell in August 2019 after finally facing federal charges for years of abusing underage girls and young women.
The two traveled to Israel in April 2008, Page Six reported at the time, after Epstein pleaded guilty to one count of soliciting a minor and before he was given an 18-month light sentence that allowed him to leave prison most days.
Serafina has hosted many celebrities over the years, including Kim Kardashian. GC image
The restaurant was also listed in Epstein’s phone book listing the names and numbers of the rich and famous used as evidence to help convict his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell of trafficking underage girls.
Shabtai denied that he had any involvement in Epstein’s sex ring and told The Post: “He [Epstein] never introduced me to any girl. I don’t know about it — I never saw any girl in my life in that house. I knew about it when he was charged.”
Shabtai, originally from Tel Aviv, began building his fortune in the US in 1977 when he started his business Raymond Weil importing watches into the US A year later, his former roommate, diamond cutter Pini Balabin was convicted of murdering broker Pincho Jaroslawicz (Jaroslawicz was released from prison in 2015 , records show).
Kendall Jenner looks beyond Serafina. GC image
A source close to the family told The Post Shabtai was being questioned about the murder at this time, after which he allegedly fled the country to Israel until the dust settled.
He founded the New York-based jewelry company DiModolo in 2000, which counts Catherine Zeta-Jones as a brand ambassador.
In 2014, he sold his 55.2% stake in Viber, the Israeli instant messaging app, for $496 million to Japanese company Rakuten.
A year later, he and Stacey Cooper tied the knot during a lavish three-day wedding in the Bahamas attended by Steve Wynn, Jacob (The Jeweler) Arabo and attorney Robert Shapiro, among others, Page Six reported.
Shabtai denied that he had any involvement in Epstein’s sex ring and told The Post: “He [Epstein] never introduced me to any girl. I don’t know about it — I never saw any girl in my life in that house. I knew about it when he was charged.” PMc – Patrick McMullan
In 2019, he was sued for misappropriating a $1.7 million donation intended for the Yale Jewish community to renovate a historic house near the Ivy League University meant to host Jewish leaders. (The suit was later dropped).
The suit alleges Shabtai failed to fulfill the agreement and did not renovate the Orange Street property in New Haven.
Samantha also claimed in court documents that Shabtai “applied for a PPP loan received on behalf of the restaurant,” but allowed the lease to default due to failure to pay rent back to 2020. Instead, he “used the proceeds of the PPP loan for himself,” the suit alleges. Benny denied this claim to The Post.
According to public records, Shabtai’s LLC, 19501 Biscayne, claimed $1,611,432 in PPP loan money between April 2020 and May 2021.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
