Celebrity chef Batali faces new allegation of sexual assault
The New York Police Department is investigating a second sexual assault complaint against celebrity chef Mario Batali, a person familiar with the matter said Monday.
In that complaint, which has not been previously reported, a woman told police on March 15 that Batali, 57, drugged and sexually assaulted her in January 2004 at his Greenwich Village restaurant Babbo. The woman told police she had been drinking at the bar and went to the bathroom, according to the person familiar with the complaint, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Her next memory was waking up as Batali was raping her.
On Sunday, “60 Minutes” interviewed a different, unidentified woman who said Batali had sexually assaulted her in 2005 at the Spotted Pig, a Greenwich Village eatery owned by restaurateur Ken Friedman and chef April Bloomfield. The woman said she had passed out after drinking with him and woke up with scratches on her leg and semen on her skirt; she called a rape crisis hotline and had a rape kit taken at a hospital. The woman said she reported the incident to police but did not file a complaint.
J. Peter Donald, assistant NYPD commissioner, confirmed Monday that it is now investigating the Spotted Pig incident but would not confirm the 2004 complaint about Babbo. A spokesman for the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., said he could not comment.
Batali has said he “vehemently denies” the allegations.
The New York Times reported in December on claims by several current and former employees that they had been sexually harassed by Friedman and some of his guests, including Batali. Jamie Seet, a former general manager at the Spotted Pig, said that during a party in 2008, she intervened when she saw on the security camera feed that Batali was groping and kissing a woman who appeared to be unconscious.