Celebrity chef Mario Batali settles sexual assault lawsuits in Boston

Superstar chef Mario Batali appears to be like towards his legal professional Anthony Fuller on the Boston Municipal Courtroom throughout the first day of his trial on a prison cost that he forcibly groped and kissed a girl at a restaurant in 2017, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Could 9, 2022. Steven Senne/Pool through REUTERS/File Picture

BOSTON, Aug 24 (Reuters) – Superstar chef Mario Batali has agreed to settle lawsuits by two girls alleging he sexually assaulted them in separate encounters in Boston, certainly one of whose accusations have been the main focus of a #MeToo-era prison prosecution that led to his acquittal.

Legal professionals for Natali Tene, whose claims have been on the coronary heart of Batali’s trial in Could, and Alexandra Brown confirmed late Tuesday that they had resolved their separate lawsuits in state court docket in Boston towards Batali.

“The issues have been resolved to the satisfaction of all events,” legal professional attorneys Eric Baum and Matthew Fogelman stated in a joint assertion. “We can’t remark additional attributable to confidentiality obligations.”

The docket in Tene’s case confirmed {that a} listening to set for Tuesday was not too long ago referred to as off as a result of the case had been settled.

Batali’s lawyer, Anthony Fuller, didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Tene’s claims shaped the premise of the one prison case to end result from varied #MeToo-era allegations of sexual harassment and assault by girls towards Batali, as soon as a fixture of Meals Community and a star of the ABC cooking and discuss present “The Chew.” learn extra

Tene, 32, had stated Batali in 2017 groped her breasts, buttocks and crotch space and forcibly kissed her whereas drunkenly posing for selfies along with her at a bar close to Boston’s Eataly, the Italian market and restaurant that on the time he partly owned. She filed a civil lawsuit towards him in 2018.

Batali was charged in 2019 with indecent assault and battery.

His attorneys argued that Tene fabricated the story to win a financial settlement. After a non-jury trial, a decide acquitted Batali, saying Tene had “vital credibility points” and that her photographs didn’t again her claims.

Tene’s attorneys additionally represented Brown, who individually sued Batali in 2019 and accused him of equally sexually assaulting her whereas posing for selfies at a distinct Boston restaurant in 2016.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Modifying by Alexia Garamfalvi

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