Italian hospitality company Cipriani is accusing two executives and a vendor of embezzling $3 million in kickbacks during a 10-year fake invoice scheme, according to a lawsuit.
The A-List chain claims former operations director Andrew Heaton has made an estimated $5 million worth of falsehoods, inflated and duplicate payments from Fulton Supply Hardware Co. to Cipriani, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court. He claims to have approved the invoice and received his share.
Cipriani said Fulton had been issuing false invoices since at least 2013, and that company president Evgeny Portnoy and general manager Philip Cohan had set up shell companies to defraud them of services such as refrigerator maintenance. It is claimed that
Cipriani’s former facilities manager, Franklin Parakibay, allegedly helped place and receive orders to make it appear that all billed products and services were provided, the company also alleges in the lawsuit.
Heaton is also accused of having Fulton order items such as $320 AirPods and a $2,000 diamond ring and pay for them using Cipriani’s credit card.
According to the filing, Portnoy told Heaton in 2020 that when he asked her for a Zeles white gold and diamond ring, “Fortunately, I just connected the jewelry guy to the plumbing thing.” He said he answered.
“I need a good pair of iPhone earphones, do they have any good ones in the store????” Heaton allegedly sent a message to another Fulton employee in 2021, which the company is fighting in a lawsuit. There is.
In 2022, he sent Portnoy a photo of an L.L. Bean fleece sweater, saying, “I’d like Phil to order it for me,” according to messages included in court filings.
Cipriani said Heaton never submitted an invoice for the purchase or reimbursed the company.
Empty boxes of AirPods, a Fitbit, and an iPhone were later found in Heaton’s office, Cipriani claimed.
Heaton and Palakibay were fired last fall.
Cipriani wants the exact amount of damages to be determined at trial, but claims the men are responsible for at least $3 million of the $5 million he paid in fraudulent invoices.
The four-generation Italian breadwinner, with stores in Manhattan, London and Venice, has a storied past of tax evasion and mob ties, and was said to have been a “hunting ground” for Harvey Weinstein.
