Attorney For West Hempstead Restaurateur Says Wage Underpayment Accusations Are ‘He Said, She Said’

MINEOLA, NY — A day after the Nassau County District Attorney announced charges against West Hempstead restaurateur Max Unver, Unver’s attorney has denied his client’s guilt in relation to those charges and called into question the veracity of those charges.

“If the DA wanted to, they could go into any little restaurants anywhere and find some minor impropriety. And, sure, they could prosecute them for it,” Unver’s attorney Joe Grasso told Patch Friday. “But I don't know if it actually is all adding up to what they're saying.”

In a Friday conversation, Grasso maintained Unver’s innocence in a case where the DA has charged Unver with underpaying almost $60,000 in wages and scamming a pair of employees out of $50,000 by offering a false ownership stake in his restaurant.

According to the DA's office, Unver had underpaid that duo over several months of employment, during which time one of Unver's accusers worked as a chef, cleaner, and server while the other worked as a server and buser. The DA also said that Unver had offered them each 25 percent stakes in his business at a cost of $25,000 per person. In a conversation Friday, Grasso said Unver had denied receiving payment from the accusers.

“The allegation is that the victims in this case paid him $25,000 for a stake in his business, like it’s Shark Tank. But Max says, ‘they never paid me the $25,000, but they did operate the business.’” Grasso said. “And Max gave me videos and stuff, of these two individuals operating the business for months. So they were, in fact, managing the business, stakeholders in the business. It's unclear where the loss is here, in this current case.”

As it stands Friday, prosecutors said Unver had been arrested and charged with, second-degree grand larceny, first-degree scheme to defraud, two counts of failure to pay wages under labor law and a count of willful failure to pay contributions.

“I'm going to try to exonerate Max from as much of this as I possibly could without having to go to a jury trial,” Grasso said.