La Terrazza owner charged with defrauding Penticton winery
The business partner of a Penticton winery has been charged with defrauding the business.
Restaurateur and business partner Giulio Miceli is scheduled to appear in a Penticton courthouse, Aug. 13, facing a single charge of defrauding the Play Estate Winery and Jason Pechet of more than $5,000.
Miceli was charged in July, two years after the winery started legal action against him, accusing the Vancouver restaurateur of swiping hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The fraud is alleged to have taken place between April 2021 and January 2023, roughly the same period of time Miceli was at the winery.
Details regarding the fraud aren't known, but a Notice of Claim filed July 2023 alleges Miceli diverted $200,000 from the winery to himself.
Miceli disputes this and says it's actually the winery that owes him money.
The 55-year-old restaurateur is one of the partners who set up La Terrazza in Vancouver in 1998. The Italian restaurant has made headlines over the years for its 40,000-bottle wine list and the fact that Drake once stopped in to eat.
The court documents say that in early 2021, Miceli entered into a contract where he agreed to provide management services to the Play Winery and its restaurant. The winery would pay him $25,000 a year plus transport and accommodation expenses.
"Giulio will have the authority and responsibility for the overall concept, theme and design of the yet to be named restaurant at Play Winery. Giulio will prepare a strategic vision and overall concept that will be shared and agreed upon with Jason (Pechet)," the court document reads.
While Miceli was to be in charge of the concept of the restaurant, the day-to-day managing would be given to an onsite manager.
It's unclear how long the agreement went smoothly, if at all, but in the court documents the winery makes multiple accusations about Miceli mismanagement of the restaurant.
The winery alleges Giulio overpaid himself, improperly invoiced for expenses, hired relatives who weren't qualified and failed to hire a restaurant manager. The winery says he failed to reconcile gratuities paid out by the restaurant to its staff.
In the court documents, the winery accuses Miceli of trying to bankrupt the business for his own personal gain.
Court records show that Miceli filed for bankruptcy in March 2023.
He does not have a criminal record and outside of a couple of small claims court files, no history of litigation.
While legal disputes between former business partner are commonplace in the courts, it's rare to see criminal charges being laid in such matters.
In a counterclaim, Giulio argues it is the winery that owes him money.
The counterclaim says Miceli agreed to purchase $1 million of shares over three years and had paid $800,000.
In total, he says the company now owes him almost $390,000.
In one sticking point, the two parties disagreed about whether the restaurant should open in January and two days before Miceli was scheduled to open it, he was fired.
He claims $19,500.00 for failing to give him notice.
In the court documents, Miceli gives a detailed breakdown of all the expenses he incurred.
"Throughout the summer and fall of 2022, Miceli... increasingly had to fund critical expenses on behalf of Play Estate in order to sustain operations," Miceli's counterclaim states.
Miceli accuses the company of failing to pay the staff gratuities, saying he personally earned $11,500 in gratuities he hasn't seen.
"Play Estate has failed, refused, or neglected to pay those amounts due and owing to Miceli," he states in the counterclaim.
Neither lawyer was immediately available for comment. None of the civil allegations or the criminal charge have been proven in court.
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