‘Nello’ fellow: I got cheated out of eatery profits

A part-owner of Upper East Side eatery Nello says he’s been cheated out of profits from the famed hot spot.

Queens resident Paul Nicaj partnered with Thomas Makkos on various restaurant companies that own Battery Gardens and Nello, where celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Mickey Rourke, Arnold Schwarz- enegger and others dine on $200 plates of pasta.

But Makkos has cheated Nicaj out of nearly $1 million of profits and earnings from their business ventures, he claims in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit accusing Makkos of “widespread financial fraud.”

Makkos gave Nicaj 22 bad checks, as well as fraudulent tax returns showing one of their companies, Majestate Tantum LLC, distributed profits and earnings when it hadn’t, he charged.

Makkos’ “willful misconduct has been pervasive and has known no bounds,” Nicaj claims, adding his one-time partner lived a “lavish and wasteful lifestyle” while vowing that he wouldn’t pay what he owed.

When Nicaj insisted he be paid, Makkos told him to “go away,” Nicaj claims in court papers.

Restaurateur Nello Balan left his namesake eatery last year.

Makkos hadn’t received the lawsuit, a spokeswoman told The Post.

The legal filing “will be addressed in the courtroom,” Inna DeSilva said.