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Former No. 7 Restaurant Owner Drank Too Much and Stole Money, Suit Says

By Janet Upadhye | September 11, 2014 4:11pm
 Tyler Kord and Matthew Maddy claim their former partner, Matt Suchomski, evaded taxes and stole money from No. 7.
Tyler Kord and Matthew Maddy claim their former partner, Matt Suchomski, evaded taxes and stole money from No. 7.
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DNAinfo.com/Janet Upadhye; The Local/Kate Blumm

FORT GREENE — The owners of the popular No. 7 restaurant have slapped their former business partner with a lawsuit, claiming he used the eatery as a personal piggy bank and spent his time boozing and schmoozing with patrons instead of working, according to court documents.

The three partners — chef Tyler Kord, designer Matthew Maddy and operations manager Matt Suchomski — opened the upscale comfort food restaurant at 7 Greene Ave. in September 2008 and it quickly received several accolades including a spot on Bon Appétit's "ten best new restaurants in the country" list.

The restaurant was so successful that the trio went on to open a sandwich shop — No. 7 Sub — in 2010 that now has four locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

But trouble began in 2011 when the state tax department froze the eatery's bank accounts for failure to pay sales tax for the previous year, according to the Manhattan Supreme Court suit, filed Sept. 8.

Before that, Kord and Maddy were unaware there were any problems with the restaurant's finances, documents say.

They later discovered that Suchomski had not put some restaurant staff on the books and used funds from the eatery to buy a personal laptop, pay his rent and make payments to his then-wife, according to the suit.

The papers also claim that Suchomski did not earn his salary of approximately $1,000 per week and "would simply imbibe large amounts of alcohol and socialize with patrons."

"Defendant did very little if anything of real management value to earn this salary," the documents say.

Suchomski could not be reached for comment.

In 2012, the IRS notified Kord and Maddy that they had not paid any taxes for that year and were liable for more than $100,000.

The two "found themselves in gravely precarious financial positions," according to the suit.

Despite negotiations with the IRS, they continue to owe the money, which is accruing interest.

In 2013, they ended the partnership with Suchomski, who agreed to pay $70,000 to the partners.

But as of this month — and on the eve of No. 7's sixth anniversary that Kord is celebrating with a neighborhood fish fry Friday night — he has still not made any moves to pay back what he owes, according to the suit.

The suit demands Suchomski pay a minimum of $2 million in damages.

Kord declined to comment.