NYPD eyes Batali 'sex assaults'
'Drugged waitress' among 2 probes
The NYPD has launched two criminal probes into celebrity chef Mario Batali over accusations he drugged and sexually assaulted a pair of women, police sources said Monday. One of the cases involves a former waitress who worked at Batali’s West Village restaurant, Babbo, a source said. In a report that aired Sunday, the woman told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that she had been drinking with Batali at another hot spot in the neighborhood, The Spotted Pig, in 2005. The last thing she remembers was sitting on his lap, kissing him — then waking up on the floor of a private, upstairs section nicknamed the “rape room” by employees — with semen on her skirt, according to the report. “The first thing I think is, ‘I’ve been drugged’ . . . ‘I’ve been assaulted,’ ” the woman said. The other accuser reported Batali’s alleged 2004 attack on her to the NYPD in March, sources said, but it is just surfacing publicly now. The woman told police she went to the restroom at Babbo around 2 a.m. that January, passed out and woke up with him on top of her having sex, according to police sources
“There is an allegation of rape,” a source said, adding the woman believes she was drugged.
Meanwhile, the “60 Minutes’’ accuser says she did go to police at the time, but told the show that she eventually backed off pressing charges, fearing retribution from the food industry.
Four other women have previously accused Batali of unwanted groping and kissing in a December 2011 report in Eater.
Batali’s food empire has been in disarray ever since.
B&B Hospitality Group — which Batali co-founded with restaurateur Joe Bastianich — called the two new accusers’ allegations “chilling and deeply disturbing” Monday and said it planned to buy out Batali’s interest in its 28 restaurants.
A B&B rep said the CBS report was “the first we learned” of the alleged predatory behavior.
Italian food purveyor Eataly has “initiated a process to compel the divestiture of [Batali’s] small, minority interest,” spokesman Chris Giglio said.
ABC outright fired Batali from the daytime food-and-talk show “The Chew” in December.
An industry source who worked with Batali claimed the chef ’s alleged behavior was an open secret. The longtime acquaintance said of Batali’s wife, Susi Cahn: “I hope she takes his money and leaves him.”
Batali issued a statement to CBS on Monday regarding the 2005 claim, saying, “I vehemently deny the allegation that I sexually assaulted this woman.” He did not respond to a Post request for comment regarding the alleged 2004 rape.
Addressing past allegations in December, Batali said in a statement, “My behavior was wrong, and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility.”