BizBash | Events * Meetings * Marketing * Style * Strategy * Ideas

OTHER MARKETS

GOOGLE TRANSLATE

OUR TRADE SHOWS & EVENTS

CALENDAR

JOBS

MOST POPULAR STORIES

1. MoMA Gets Suitably Whimsical and Macabre for Tim Burton Tribute

2. Gap, Banana Republic, American Eagle Open Stores With Musical Performances

3. Nintendo Launches New Mario Game With Look Back at Franchise History

4. 3 New Hotel Restaurants for Business Entertaining, Private Groups

5. Masked Raconteurs Tell Tales at Moth Ball, and I Have a Blast

6. Sustainable Label Opens SoHo Pop-Up With Community Center Sensibility

7. New Moon Premiere Beckons 10,000 People and 2 Live Wolves

8. 8 Handy Gifts for Meeting Attendees

9. Clinique and Teen Vogue Bring Young Women to Beauty Tour, Send Them Online

10. Art Basel Preview: New Convention Center Layout, Giant Beach Structure for Audi

FROM LOS ANGELES

American Music Awards Begin With Redesigned Arrivals, End With Downsized After-Party

Bouchon: Thomas Keller in Beverly Hills, With Indoor/Outdoor Dining, Private Room

Us Weekly Takes to Voyeur With Scantily Clad Models, Burlesque Feel

6 New Venues for Los Angeles Holiday Parties

New Moon Premiere Beckons 10,000 People and 2 Live Wolves

$4 Million MOCA Gala Breaks Fund-Raising Records

Chrysalis Benefit Cuts Ticket Prices in Half, Draws Same Crowd

MOCA Gala Spawning Arty Online Auction—Including Gehry's Hat for Gaga—Through November 30

Wende Museum Closes Wilshire for Cold War Anniversary Celebration

3 Ideas for Stylish, Eco-Friendly Events

FROM WASHINGTON

Obama's First State Dinner Calls on Marcus Samuelsson, Jennifer Hudson

Eldon Luxury Suites: Spacious Penthouses for Receptions

National Geographic Debuts Exhibit With Chinese Dragon, Tented Lounge

P.C.M.A. Honors Wardman Park, Fairmont at First Nighttime Annual Meeting

8 New Venues for Washington Holiday Parties That Won't Break the Bank

MSNBC and Rodale Fete Jeff Corwin's New Book and Documentary at the Occidental

Againn: A Modern Gastropub in Penn Quarter

Café Milano Offers Corporate Catering

More Photos From Fight Night/Knock Out Abuse: Stogies, Laser Shows, and a VW Bus Bar

Fight Night/Knock Out Abuse: Joan Jett for Men, Shirtless Hippies for Women

News Archive for Legal Trouble

EVENT INTELLIGENCE 11.01.07 12:26 PM

Do You Care If Your Vendors Have Legal Problems?

Illustration: Fernanda Cohen

"I had a client with a large event at the Rainbow Room, and when Cipriani got busted for tax problems, the client canceled the event one day before signing the contract," says Rex Duval, owner of the Rex Duval Group, of his experience planning an event for a major international technology and manufacturing company. "The client was very conservative and didn’t want to be linked with anyone not potentially on the up-and-up."

That’s the kind of fallout that can happen when vendors find themselves surrounded by controversy. In this particular case, in July, Giuseppe and Arrigo Cipriani, owners of some of the most popular venues in New York, pleaded guilty to tax evasion to the tune of about $10 million.

The venue moguls are not the only heavy hitters in the field to have recently earned some less-than-flattering ink in the press. This summer saw employee wage and discrimination complaints against celeb chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Daniel Boulud, respectively. And in January, the Fox affiliate in New York accused caterer Mood Food of not paying its caterwaiters.

All of this press is no doubt a potential black eye for those involved, but does any of it matter when planners are deciding which suppliers to sign up for a party? MORE >>

Legal Trouble

EVENT INTELLIGENCE 09.05.07 4:37 PM

Stealing Ideas: An Industry Epidemic?

For a New York fashion show in 2005, Lara Baldwin, executive vice president of business development at Landmark Event Services, was approached by another decor and production firm to design and build set pieces. Baldwin and her team spent hours laboring over one-of-a-kind designs to camouflage columns in the event venue and to create an intimate V.I.P. area, with movable walls and upholstered bench seating, in the otherwise cavernous space. But after four site visits and 11 proposal drafts, all executed with only a verbal agreement in place, things turned sour. “All of a sudden the [other company] just dropped off the face of the earth,” Baldwin says. She tried to get in touch with the company by phone and email, and then sent a letter reminding them that all designs were copyrighted. It didn’t help.

“We went to the event and saw that all of our ideas were stolen. We designed all that and somebody else got the credit,” Baldwin says. “It felt really crappy.” Oh, and that letter she sent? Returned unopened. “They know what they did, and they did it in a very deceitful way.” MORE >>

Stealing Ideas, Legal Trouble, Contracts

NEWS 08.13.07 11:12 AM

Fallout Continues for Ciprianis

The New York State Liquor Authority may move to revoke the Cipriani clan's liquor license in the wake of Arrigo Cipriani's July guilty plea to felony tax evasion. Top SLA attorney Thomas Donahue told The New York Post that state law forbids felons from selling alcohol.

The last hope is a pardon from Governor Eliot Spitzer or special permission from the sentencing judge or the parole board. Giuseppe Cipriani, Arrigo's son and the president and C.E.O. of Cipriani USA, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor tax-evasion charge. The two created sham deductions to avoid paying more than $10 million in taxes.

The Ciprianis are also facing problems with their venue in the Toy Center on Fifth Avenue at 23rd Street, where the landlords say the use of the building's lobby as event space is trespassing, according to a detailed report in The Observer.

The family corporation owns some of the city's top event venues, including the Rainbow Room, Cipriani 42nd Street, and Downtown Cipriani.

Legal Trouble

NEWS 08.08.07 4:08 PM

More Trouble for Ciprianis

The Cipriani family is back in court, only this time they are battling their landlord at the Toy Building and not the Manhattan D.A.'s office. A week after pleading guilty to tax evasion, the family filed suit against the landlords at 200 Fifth Avenue for wrongfully terminating the lease for Cipriani 23rd Street, the venue they manage there. Several private events are now at risk of being homeless. According to The New York Post, the landlords claim that the family has only itself to blame, since a Manhattan judge warned the catering hall not to book events past September. The judge is overseeing an ongoing dispute over whether Cipriani illegally uses the building's lobby and not just the ballroom it leases.

Legal Trouble

NEWS 07.31.07 5:40 PM

Ciprianis Plead Guilty to Tax Evasion

The two heads of the Cipriani clan today pleaded guilty in New York state court in Manhattan to filing false corporate tax returns after evading about $10 million in city and state taxes. According to Bloomberg, Guiseppe Cipriani and his father, Arrigo, understated their taxes by making sham deductions—the U.S. company falsely claimed to have paid the parent company $30.7 million from 1998 to 2004 for the right to use the family name and other trademarks. The men will receive probation at the October 10 sentencing and will have to pay back the taxes. Their business will be monitored until 2011 to ensure accurate tax payments. Guiseppe Cipriani, C.E.O. of Cipriani USA, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge; his father pleaded guilty to a felony. The Cipriani family owns some of the city's most popular event venues, including Cipriani 42nd Street, Downtown Cipriani, the Rainbow Room, and Cipriani Wall Street.

Legal Trouble

VENUE NEWS 07.12.07 12:36 PM

Post: Sky Studios Sold, Sued

A 2004 underwear launch at Sky Studios.
Photo: BizBash

Has Sky Studios, the posh penthouse photo and event space with an outdoor pool above Greenwich Village, been sold? "We are having some issues with the building," said an unidentified woman who answered the phone at the studio this morning. She stressed that the space is "not available for renting" at the moment. For how long, she wouldn't say, nor would she confirm the report in today's New York Post that the venue is now owned by billionaire Ron Burkle. According to the paper, the sale has left about-to-be-married couples in the lurch, and one couple is suing the venue for the right to be married there September 15, as stated in a contract signed last February.

Legal Trouble

Search the BizBash Event Supplier Directory

Search for Venues

By Type

By Neighborhood/Location

Show Only New Venues

Search Our Venue Directory