Mario Batali settles 2 lawsuits that alleged sexual assault
BOSTON — Mario Batali has agreed to settle two Massachusetts lawsuits that accused the celebrity chef of sexual assault, attorneys for the women said Wednesday.
The decision to settle the cases comes more than two months after the former Food Network personality was cleared of a criminal charge stemming from accusations by one of the women, whom prosecutors alleged was aggressively kissed and groped by Batali while she took a selfie at a downtown Boston bar in 2017.
“The matters have been resolved to the satisfaction of all parties. We cannot comment further due to confidentiality obligations,” attorneys for the two women said in an emailed statement.
Batali, who pleaded not guilty to indecent assault and battery in 2019, had faced up to 2 1/2 years in jail.
An email seeking comment was sent Wednesday to Batali’s attorney.
The women alleged that Batali had sexually assaulted them on separate occasions. The accusations by one of the women led to the only criminal case against the prominent chef and restauranteur at the height of the #MeToo movement.
One woman testified in May that she felt confused and powerless to do anything to stop Batali at the time.
Celebrity chef Mario Batali stepped away from the day-to-day operations of his culinary empire and from the ABC show “The Chew” on Monday, as allegations emerged that he committed sexual misconduct spanning at least two decades.
But Batali was acquitted of indecent assault and battery after a Boston judge agreed with Batali’s lawyers that the accuser had credibility issues and that photos suggested the encounter was amicable.
Batali’s lawyers portrayed the accuser as a liar who was financially motivated because of her civil lawsuit brought against the chef in 2018.
If convicted, Batali had faced up to 2½ years in prison and would have been required to register as a sex offender.
Celebrity chef Mario Batali is facing a criminal charge on allegations that he forcibly kissed and groped a woman at a Boston restaurant in 2017.
The other woman — who sued Batali in 2019 — similarly alleged that he had groped and kissed her at a restaurant in Boston’s Chinatown neighborhood in 2016.
Batali stepped down from day-to-day operations at his restaurant empire and left the since-discontinued ABC cooking show “The Chew” after the sexual misconduct allegations surfaced.
A year after sexual misconduct allegations against Mario Batali roiled the industry, the celebrity chef’s ties to all of his restaurants were formally severed Wednesday.
Last year, Batali, his business partner and their New York City restaurant company agreed to pay $600,000 to resolve a four-year investigation by the New York attorney general’s office into allegations that Batali and other staff sexually harassed employees.
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