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Burger Boat Company: Exploring the Limitless Freedom of a Custom Yacht

A custom yacht is the pinnacle of luxury. One look can take your breath away. Step aboard and set off and you’ll tap into a new form of excitement, with inspiration and thrills to last a lifetime.

Those looking for the right guide to help them access this exclusive club will find what they seek with Burger Boat Company, one of America’s oldest and most respected yacht builders.

Building a custom yacht is an opportunity for adventure seekers to work hand-in-hand with Burger and its team of expert designers. It’s a relationship of trust and collaboration to explore each owner’s unique requirements. It’s a rapport developed with the craftspeople and artisans to help an owner establish and execute a creative vision. It’s the joy of partnership that brings a one-of-a-kind dream to life, ready to whisk you and your guests away.

And that’s the opportunity available; a yacht is created not just for the design you envision, but for the experience you crave.

Burger knows how to lead those seeking adventure in a yacht that is built with unrivaled precision.

This isn’t a model – it’s personal.

For some, that starts with a blank sheet of paper.

Burger’s delivery of NORTHLAND, a 103’-06” steel and aluminum superyacht, gave the owner precisely what he had been looking for, a yacht designed to withstand the rigors of long-range journeys at sea, with a dedicated cockpit that makes it perfect for fishing the worlds sportfishing hotspots. After being unable to find a yacht that met those requirements, the owner worked with award-winning designer Luiz de Basto to give the owner precisely what they sought – a custom yacht design. Burger built and delivered their unique dream, NORTHLAND, an icon of collaboration between owner, designer and builder that is rich with luxury and amenities. This stylish, contemporary yacht has already taken the owner to exotic destinations including Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand and more – and back again.

From vision to sketch to fully realized majestic explorer, get an up close and personal tour of NORTHLAND.

For many, custom starts with options.

For each new yacht owner, the motivations, requirements and desires are different. Some seek an escape to the world’s most breathtaking settings, or an heirloom their family will enjoy for generations. Whatever the motivation, there are a number of luxurious concepts that a potential yacht owner can explore with Burger when they are ready to begin their journey.

Burger’s yacht concepts help an owner explore what inspires them as they work with the Burger Design Team to refine their vision. Explore these designs, from the new Burger 120 Raised Pilothouse Motor Yacht to the Burger 122, 144 and 214 Tri-Deck Motor Yachts.

For others, there’s joy in taking the helm of their own cruiser.

Recent offerings from Burger are perfectly suited for those in search of a yacht they can pilot themselves, one that breaks the mold of production yachts to deliver luxury, style and control. The new Burger 50 Cruiser is currently in build and is available for purchase, with delivery in the spring of 2021. The Burger 50 Cruiser is a powerful and luxurious aluminum cruiser developed in conjunction with Vripack Naval Architects and features an exquisite interior designed by De Basto Designs. The owner will enjoy a cruising speed of 26 knots and a top speed of approximately 31 knots in comfort.

Burger has also recently introduced its new Burger 63’ Sportfishing Motor Yacht . Built for the thrill of the chase, this sleek and sporty yacht features a dedicated fishing cockpit, a soaring flybridge, and classic lines that evoke timeless Burger quality. This yacht is an ideal option for open-water fishing and adventure sports. Like the Burger 50 Cruiser, the owner of this stylish yacht can take the helm themselves to chart an adventure into open waters. The interior features three ensuite staterooms, unobstructed views in the open salon/galley area, and exceptional exterior spaces for entertaining friends and family.

When a yacht is designed to your exact vision, like a dream of your own personal design requirements and travel ambitions, it’s the pinnacle of luxury.

You can board your own private creation to escape or to explore the far reaches of the world. You can live a life without limits in a yacht your builder’s design team has custom made just for you, in whatever style you desire; palatial, contemporary, classic, designed for the fun of entertaining or designed for expeditions on the high seas. You can feel the joyous freedom of island hopping across the waters of the Caribbean in an icon you’ve created that defines your own personal luxury experience.

Design for the style, yes, but with an eye on experience.

www.burgerboat.com

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Burger 48 Cruiser: Inside The New 14 Metre Motor Yacht by Burger Boats

Let loose on Lake Michigan, Cecile Gauert experiences the joy of easy boating on Burger’s 48 Cruiser

Free at last – nothing but clear, flat water and pale blue sky surrounds the boat. Seated at the helm of the Burger 48 Cruiser, I have both hands on the wheel but it’s hardly necessary. Under the power of the 600hp Volvo Penta engines purring somewhere below the salon’s maple sole, the boat traces a perfect line, scarring the surface of Lake Michigan with a widening V. I glance at the 17-inch Garmin displays in front of me and am surprised to see that the boat is going 30 knots.

This Burger 48 Cruiser, hull 512, is the sistership of Blue Boat Home , which was born of a chance encounter on this very lake. The vice president of sales and marketing for Burger Boat Company, Ron Cleveringa, was out boating when he met the woman who would inspire its build. She was swimming near her boat when they began chatting.

“I was still neck deep in water when I found out that Ron is a naval architect and works for Burger,” she remembers. She had heard about Burger since she was a child and had enjoyed the same boat, an Apreamare, for 12 years. When he told her that, yes, they could build her a boat around 12.1 metres, she made a quick decision. “Within 90 seconds I was just about committed.”

She did some homework but was back in touch with Burger within days. “The very first thing I told them was that [the boat] had to be beautiful; it had to be absolutely up to date in terms of technology, engineering and design and it had to be easy to run and care for,” she says.

Burger brought in Dutch design firm Vripack to assist with the exterior design, layout and naval architecture. An early and easy decision was the type of power they’d use. “Since [the owner] wanted to be able to go 30 knots and wanted a boat that was easy to handle, IPS made sense,” Cleveringa says. Another quick decision was the hull type.

Vripack had a patented design for what it calls its Slide Hull, designed primarily for boats that shuttle crew to and from off-shore platforms in the North Sea. Although Blue Boat Home will remain on the Great Lakes (her owner describes herself as “a freshie”), it does not mean it won’t be subjected to tough conditions. In fact, when she took delivery of the boat, she says, “It was six- to eight-footers (1.8m - 2.4m) for a short term on Green Bay and it was kind of hairy and very wet. But there was never a moment when the boat disappointed me. I never felt unsafe.”

Peter Bouma, naval architect for Vripack, describes the Slide Hull motion on waves as a “heave up and down” with noticeably less pitching. I’ll have to take his word for it because on this day, there is hardly any heeling in turns and no heaving, pitching nor rocking. It feels like the boat is gliding on skates across the silvery lake. The roll angle graph tracking the motion of the Seakeeper 6 gyrostabiliser that Burger added on hull No 2 is pretty much a flat line.

It gives plenty of confidence to gaze at the scenery and wispy clouds strewn across the sky fully visible through the large sunroof. A breeze blowing across the cabin from open side windows adds to the sheer delight of open water. One of the fringe benefits of the Slide Hull design that I am able to appreciate is the space. Because of the hull shape, the interior is built slightly higher within the hull, above the chines. This translates below to two large cabins and two bathrooms with full-size shower, toilet and vanity.

As we slowly motor in the channel leading to Charlevoix, Michigan, I watch pedestrians look at the pretty blue hull passing by. The style is described as retro modern with hints of the Burger heritage. The detailing on the outside of the house echoes the varnished boats of years past without being too onerous in terms of maintenance, says Pim Dijksman, yacht designer at Vripack.

An enclosed main deck made sense for the owner of Blue Boat Home , who wants to be able to stretch the boating season from early spring to late fall, and the extra space and volume is quite desirable and very much on trend. And there are still good spaces outdoors. Seating is up front while a comfortable banquette and table look over the articulated swim platform that supports an 11ft BRIG tender. The platform is also large enough to accommodate a couple of chairs, and a grill is nearby to cook fish right out of the lake. For added serenity so close to the water, Burger installed Volvo Penta’s Clear Wake Exhaust System, which effectively removes gurgling and bubbles when the boat idles.

The interior decor of hull 512, recently named BLUE , is by De Basto Designs . Luiz de Basto, who also has far larger boats to his credit (see 90 metre  DAR , for instance), wanted the interior to look and feel as luxurious as a superyacht, but, he says, because the spaces were smaller he looked for inspiration among luxurious sedan cars from Rolls-Royce, Mercedes and Bentley.

The decor includes a wealth of details from stitched handles to what looks like ostrich leather on the headboards – it is, in fact, Majilite, which is at once more cost effective and easier to maintain, Cristina de Basto says. The bright light veneer on bulkheads is Movingui with dark walnut for contrast.

The galley (complete with small dishwasher) is self-contained in a bar stretching opposite a dining table with banquette seating. The table is cleverly designed with built-in storage for glasses inside the base and a sliding top to ease access. Accents in stainless-steel finish the furniture beautifully. Luiz de Basto designed the whole interior in 3D and Burger perfectly executed the exacting details.

Back at the dock, the boat slides neatly into its space while the attendants grab the lines in one swift motion. The covers come out of their storage and quickly snap into place. All that’s left to do is to grab a refreshing drink. That’s the beauty of freshwater, Cleveringa says, “no need to wash the boat.” Yes, it feels like freedom.

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A guide to burger boat company: 10 things to know, a guide to burger boat company: 10 things to know, 1. a rich heritage.

Burger Boat Company, established in 1863 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, is renowned for its prestigious yacht building tradition. With over 150 years of experience, Burger has earned a reputation for crafting exceptional custom luxury yachts that seamlessly merge elegance, functionality, and innovation. The company’s rich heritage and commitment to craftsmanship have made it a preferred choice for discerning yacht owners around the world.

2. Unparalleled Craftsmanship

Burger Boat Company is synonymous with unparalleled craftsmanship. Each yacht is meticulously fashioned by a team of expert designers, engineers, and craftsmen who pay meticulous attention to every detail. From the selection of high-quality materials to the precision in the construction process, Burger ensures the end result is a masterpiece that exceeds expectations.

3. Customization at its Finest

One of the defining characteristics of Burger yachts is the ability to be fully customized. Burger believes that each yacht should be a reflection of its owner’s taste, preferences, and lifestyle. The company works closely with clients to understand their unique vision and offers a wide range of customization options, from interior layouts and finishes to technology integration and entertainment amenities. This level of customization allows clients to create a yacht that perfectly suits their needs.

4. Innovative Technology

Burger is at the forefront of incorporating cutting-edge technology into its yachts. The company collaborates with renowned suppliers to integrate the latest navigation, communication, and entertainment systems seamlessly. From state-of-the-art stabilization systems to eco-friendly propulsion systems, every Burger yacht boasts innovative technology that enhances safety, efficiency, and overall onboard experience.

5. Diverse Range of Yachts

Burger Boat Company offers a diverse range of yacht designs, each catering to different preferences and requirements. Whether you are seeking a classic motor yacht, an expedition-style yacht for long-range cruising, or a sleek and contemporary superyacht, Burger has a solution to suit your desires. The company’s portfolio includes models such as the Burger Custom Series, Burger Expedition Series, and Burger Yacht Collections, with each series offering unique features and design elements.

6. Impeccable Safety Features

Ensuring the safety and well-being of yacht occupants is a top priority for Burger Boat Company. Every yacht is equipped with advanced safety features and systems, including cutting-edge fire detection and suppression systems, state-of-the-art navigation and radar equipment, and robust security measures. With Burger’s commitment to safety, owners can enjoy their yacht without any concerns.

7. Lifelong Support and Maintenance

Burger’s relationship with its clients extends far beyond the initial yacht construction. The company provides lifelong support and maintenance, making sure that owners receive exceptional service even after the delivery of their yacht. Burger’s dedicated service team is readily available to handle any inquiries, provide maintenance advice, and offer timely solutions to keep your yacht in optimal condition.

8. Commitment to Sustainability

As the yacht industry embraces sustainability, Burger Boat Company is at the forefront of developing eco-friendly solutions. The company actively works to reduce its environmental impact by employing efficient propulsion systems, utilizing responsibly sourced materials, and integrating energy-efficient technologies. By choosing a Burger yacht, owners can enjoy luxurious cruising while respecting the planet.

9. Exceptional Legacy

Burger’s legacy is one of timeless elegance and exceptional yachts that continue to astound enthusiasts worldwide. The company’s commitment to quality, craftsmanship, and innovation has garnered it a remarkable reputation among yacht owners and industry professionals. Owning a Burger yacht not only provides an unmatched cruising experience but also grants access to a community that appreciates the finest yachts ever built.

10. Onward to the Future

Burger Boat Company continues to push the boundaries of yacht building, combining the traditions of the past with the advancements of the future. By consistently striving for excellence and investing in cutting-edge technology, Burger remains at the forefront of the industry. With each new yacht, the company looks forward to meeting the unique demands and aspirations of its clients while upholding its time-honored reputation for craftsmanship.

Useful Links:

– Burger Boat Company Website – Burger Boat Company Yacht Collection – Contact Burger Boat Company

In conclusion, Burger Boat Company stands as a beacon of excellence in the world of yacht building. With over a century and a half of experience, the company has perfected the art of crafting luxurious, custom yachts that embody elegance, functionality, and innovation. From their rich heritage and unwavering commitment to craftsmanship to their cutting-edge technology and dedication to sustainability, every aspect of a Burger yacht exudes perfection. Whether you are seeking a classic, contemporary, or expedition-style yacht, Burger offers a diverse range of designs to cater to your desires. By choosing a Burger yacht, you not only own a masterpiece of craftsmanship but also gain lifelong support and access to an exclusive community of yacht enthusiasts. Embark on a journey of luxury and refinement with Burger Boat Company.

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Burger Yachts: Tradition and Timeless Elegance in Yacht Building

Burger Yachts is a company with a long history of building high-quality yachts that cater to the needs of discerning clients. Founded in 1863, the company has been constructing custom yachts that reflect the style and preferences of their owners for over a century. Today, Burger Yachts continues to deliver the same exceptional craftsmanship and innovative design that has made them a top choice for yacht owners around the world.

Burger Yachts works closely with some of the most respected designers and naval architects in the industry to create yachts that meet the highest standards of quality and design. Their team of skilled professionals is dedicated to ensuring that each yacht they build is a true reflection of the owner’s personal style and preferences. From the choice of materials and finishes to the layout and functionality of the yacht, every detail is carefully considered to ensure that the end result is a yacht that is truly exceptional.

INEVITABLE: The Perfect Family Cruiser

One example of the exceptional yachts that Burger Yachts produces is INEVITABLE, a 118-foot Burger yacht built in 1985 and recently refit in 2022. This yacht is an ideal choice for extended family cruising, with a traditionally styled high-gloss Patrick Knowles designed interior that easily accommodates 6 to 8 guests in total comfort. INEVITABLE is freshly refit with a brand-new Matterhorn white Awlgrip paint job, new teak decks, and major system overhauls, making her truly ready to go cruising immediately.

JOURNEY ON: A Custom Flybridge for Optimum Speed

Another yacht worth mentioning is JOURNEY ON, an 85-foot Burger yacht built in 2000 and updated in 2019. This yacht was originally built with many extras and is well-equipped with a proper marine sanitation device, Atlas Classic shore power, a generator with auto-start, and much more. JOURNEY ON is optimized for speed with her Caterpillar 3412 diesel engines and features a custom hardtop flybridge that was modified in 2013 to a Ray Hunt design.

CHECKERS: Masterfully Built and Exceptionally Crafted

Last but not least, CHECKERS is another impressive yacht from Burger Yachts. This 85-foot custom-built yacht is continuing the longstanding ethic of the Burger Boat Company, with large salon windows and incredible headroom throughout highlighting the richly crafted Mokore (African Cherry) woodwork. A separate and secluded master suite amidship is comparable in size to those on 100-foot yachts with amenities to match. CHECKERS is powered by twin Caterpillar C32 diesel engines, 1550hp and two 38kW generators, and features stabilization, bow thruster, Furuno electronics, and many more features.

Burger Boat Builders Today

Burger Yachts’ full-service, eight-acre shipyard is conveniently located near the local airport and moments away from the open waters of the Great Lakes. The shipyard features a state-of-the-art manufacturing complex with seven large floor-heated boat building halls of 71,000 square feet (6596 square meters), plus a 50,000 square foot (4645 square meters) joiner shop with a custom-built, dual-station router and machining center, a pair of highly efficient down draft spray booths, and drying centers. In 2006, a new 500 metric ton capacity MARINE TRAVELIFT® and launching well were erected, making the historic Burger shipyard into a world-renowned showpiece. The shipyard’s transformation is a testament to Burger Yachts’ commitment to delivering exceptional craftsmanship and innovative design in every yacht they build.

In conclusion, Burger Yachts has a long-standing reputation for delivering high-quality, custom-built yachts that cater to the needs of discerning clients. INEVITABLE, JOURNEY ON and CHECKERS are just a few examples of the exceptional yachts that Burger Yachts produce, showcasing their dedication to delivering exceptional craftsmanship and innovative design.

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• Open Space, Eco-Friendly Tech: What a Rising Class of Millennial Superyacht Owners Is Looking For

Surveys predict that, 10 years from now, the average age of a superyacht buyer will be 35 to 40.

Kevin koenig, kevin koenig's most recent stories, ‘people don’t want to be inside’: how the outdoors became yachtmakers’ most coveted design element, azimut’s new 72-foot yacht has one of the largest flybridges in its class. we hopped onboard..

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Ten years from now, Millennials will have taken over the superyacht world. At least that’s the forecast by several experts who are seeing ages of yacht buyers trending younger.

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That trend is expected to continue, according to research from Italian yacht builder Rossinavi and the University of Monaco, with the average age of superyacht buyers decreasing 10 to 15 years over the next decade. That could make Millennials the primary buyers of superyachts.

The topic of younger buyers is a constant discussion in shipyard boardrooms and among designers looking to modify their designs to this changing market. It was also one of the topics at the recent Yachtmaster event in Key West, hosted by Benetti Yachts . Benetti sponsors Yachtmaster events twice a year (the European edition was in Budapest last month) to brief captains and other professionals on new trends in the superyacht industry.

“We have been doing this event for 24 years now,” Benetti Americas manager Nick Bischoff told Robb Report . “The intent is to continue to build relationships with influencers of our current and prospective owners. In the beginning that meant mostly captains, but it’s expanded to include surveyors and owners’ reps, too.” The ultimate goal, says Bischoff, is for participants not only to network, but “put their heads together to create an ever-improving onboard experience both for owners and crew.”

Many seminars focused on the concept of onboard lifestyle, which most brokers and shipyards see as a primary driver for purchasing a yacht. Benetti’s head of product, Sebastiano Vida, also spoke about how lifestyle influences new designs in the yachts.

But Jason Dunbar, a broker and appraisal surveyor with Vessel Value Survey, recommended tough love to the brokers. His discussion about managing expectations for newbie owners included advice about being “realistic” with owners who are flush with cash, but might be new to the superyacht world. If an owner wants a brand-new 120-footer with a crew of six, but has a budget of $8 million, the broker is the one who needs to break the bad news. “A good broker has to tell people ‘Listen, that’s just not going to happen,’” says Dunbar. “That will save a lot of headaches down the road and will hopefully keep a client in boating for the long term.”

A new buyer is often coming off a one-week charter that was magical: perfect weather, a well-oiled boat, and a crew looking forward to a little R&R after hustling all week for the charter guests. “It’s relatively easy to make things work like that one week at a time,” says Dunbar. “But a new owner who wants to use their boat for 10, 15, or 30 weeks, that’s a totally different thing. You may have to tell them they need to hire two crews and rotate them—which will be news to them.” He said that overworking the crew will “burn through humans.” The crew will be miserable, he says, which will make the boat not live up to the owners’ expectations. “The next thing you know these new owners will be long gone from yachting.”

Fraser Yachts CEO Anders Kurtén sees the new buyers as a boon for design creativity in an old-school industry. “It starts with a piece of paper,” he says. “We sit down and start designing these boats for younger clients and we see similar trends. Basically they all want to live their shore-based lives on a yacht.”

The segmented and often claustrophobic interiors of many current superyacht designs, says Dirand, just doesn’t float with the new generation. “Young owners’ preferences are honed by hospitality and a knowledge of architectural trends,” he says.

Because of that, wellness centers have become focal points of design. As moguls like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg have made clear as of late, having six-pack abs in middle age is the new Lamborghini. These new owners expect their boats to be designed with beach clubs with gyms, saunas, massage areas that allow owners and guests to work out or relax, amidst warm sun rays and luscious sea breezes.

Kurtén also pointed to green tech as key for the new generation of clients. “We’ve hit a point where a 150-foot sailboat can go across the Atlantic without burning a drop of fuel. And motoryachts can function on battery-only mode, at least when they are close to port,” he says. “That’s important to these new clients—they want to be green. A few years ago that was something you said at a cocktail party, but today it’s a reality for a lot of buyers.”

Peter Selivanoff, senior yacht service manager for Fraser, also spoke about how owners are seeking highly specialized crews who can perform multiple functions across the yacht.

Navigating these new realities is an important part for the industry to future-proof itself in the competitive realm of ultra-luxury products. This is a place where youth may not spring eternal but, at least for now, it reigns supreme.

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Meet the oligarchs: the Russian billionaires whose jets, yachts and mansions are now in the crosshairs

Some of Russia’s super rich are finding their assets in the west under threat of sanctions from the US

For a growing number of Russia’s richest and most powerful men, now would be a very bad time to take their private jets and superyachts to their mansions in the United States.

Yesterday, the White House announced it would expand the list of Russian oligarchs subject to full blocking sanctions – the highest level of restrictions – as it ramps up punishment against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Some of the newly named oligarchs overlapped with a list of Russian elites on whom the European Union imposed sanctions earlier this week, although there were some notable differences.

The federal government won’t just stop at freezing these targets’ assets, but will seize them, Joe Biden announced in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

In charge of appropriating these assets will be KleptoCapture , a newly announced justice department taskforce, with support from the treasury department, FBI, IRS and other federal agencies. Under US law, the justice department may use civil forfeiture to confiscate the proceeds from foreign crimes, including corruption, when they are found in the United States.

Their efforts will complement those of a transatlantic taskforce announced over the weekend between the United States, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and the European Commission.

“We are joining with our European allies to find and seize your yachts, your luxury apartments, your private jets. We are coming for your ill-begotten gains,” Biden said.

The Feds may have their work cut out. US regulations are lax when it comes to requiring disclosures of real estate transactions by foreign individuals, making the country a prime destination for Russian’s uber-rich looking to snap up prime properties without scrutiny.

Other favorite toys of oligarchs like planes and boats are commonly registered through shell companies. And many of those luxury craft have begun traveling toward extradition-free territories such as the Maldives, according to Bloomberg News .

Here’s an introduction to the Russian oligarchs now joining the US sanctions list – as well as a few others who haven’t been targeted yet, but have notable US ties.

Alisher Usmanov

Russians know Alisher Usmanov as one of Vladimir Putin’s “favorite” oligarchs. The country’s richest man until 2015, Usmanov owns a majority stake in Russia’s second-largest phone network, MegFon, and a large stake in the iron and steel giant Metalloinvest.

But few Americans know that Usmanov also helped give us Facebook. The billionaire began investing in the social network in 2009, when Zuckerberg’s firm was having trouble accessing funding in the wake of the financial crisis. Usmanov ultimately poured over $900m into the firm, owning as much as 10% of the company before selling his stake in 2014 and netting himself billions. He was also a major investor in Apple, Twitter, LinkedIn, Groupon and Zynga.

Usmanov was subjected to sanctions by the EU on Monday, and on Wednesday German authorities seized his $600m megayacht , the Dilbar – which boasts the world’s largest yacht-based indoor swimming pool. On 3 March he was among those added to the sanctions list by the US. The oligarch still has a $200m private Airbus A340.

The Rotenbergs

Long before brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg became two of Russia’s wealthiest tycoons, they were teenage Vladimir Putin’s judo training buddies, a role they continued into adulthood. Clearly they were good at it, because after Putin became president he rewarded the brothers with the control of large state-owned enterprises and lucrative contracts, netting them a massive fortune.

The Rotenbergs have since built a huge family empire of international investments under a web of shell companies, which has made Arkady’s son Igor a billionaire in his own right. Despite Arkady and Boris getting US sanctions after Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, the brothers “continued actively participating in the US art market by purchasing over $18 million in art in the months following the imposition of sanctions”, according to a US Senate report . Rotenberg-linked shell companies continued making transactions in the US financial system worth over $91m long after the sanctions, according to the report.

In addition to Arkady and Boris, Igor and five additional family members were added to the US sanctions list this week.

Igor Shuvalov

Russia’s deputy prime minister from 2008 to 2018, Igor Shuvalov is now the chairman of VEB, the Russian development bank that finances major infrastructure projects, including the Sochi Olympics. He has claimed to be one of Russia’s cleanest officials, telling media he transferred all his wealth to Russia in 2013, and only kept it offshore before that to avoid spoiling his kids . But an investigation by the anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny found that Shuvalov, through a shell company, bought two London luxury apartments in 2014 for $11.4m and has used a secret private jet to fly his wife’s corgis around the world because, as one of his staffers explained, “it’s not that comfortable in business class”.

He won’t be able to fly his corgis as many places now that he’s on the US and EU’s sanctions lists.

Yevgeniy Prigozhin

Legend has it Yevgeniy Prigozhin began his rise to power selling hot dogs , shortly after getting released from prison for robbery. The wiener venture was apparently a smash hit, and within years he had opened high-end restaurants that counted Russia’s leader among their clientele, earning him the nickname of “Putin’s chef” and catapulting him into the inner circles of Russia’s elite.

Americans might be more familiar with another one of Prigozhin’s businesses: the Internet Research Agency, which employed a troll army that began by supporting Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, before turning its efforts to influencing the 2016 US presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. Prigozhin and the Internet Research Agency were indicted by a US grand jury in 2018 for interfering with the election, and he was added to an FBI wanted list in 2021.

He’s now on both the US and EU sanctions lists for running disinformation campaigns to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Sergey Chemezov

A former KGB officer who befriended Vladimir Putin in the 1980s while living in the same apartment building, Sergey Chemezov rose through Russia’s public and private sector in Putin’s wake, and in 2007 was appointed as CEO of Russia’s state-owned defense giant Rostec, a position he still holds today. Chemezov was sanctioned by the US in 2014 amid Rostec’s role as a supplier for Russia’s invasion of Crimea, and Washington is targeting him again, now with his family members.

According to investigative reports and allegations from the jailed activist Alexei Navalny, Chemezov’s relatives have used shell companies to accumulate eye-watering assets , including superyachts and luxury villas around the world. But Chemezov says he’s clean, telling Russian media in 2019: “I do not accumulate wealth. I don’t stuff money in the corners. I don’t have yachts or airplanes.”

Nikolai Tokarev

Another former KGB officer who served alongside Putin and Chemezov, Nikolai Tokarev took over former Soviet state assets as Putin built his political power, and in 2007 became the head of the state-controlled oil giant Transneft. The oligarch has used his position at Transneft to build a business and real estate empire, which reportedly includes sponsoring an extremely fancy palace that’s said to be personally used by Putin. Tokarev was hit by US and EU sanctions this week.

Vladimir Potanin

Reportedly the second richest man in Russia, the banker, metals mining tycoon and former deputy prime minister Vladimir Potanin was among a small circle of oligarchs who met with Putin last week as the invasion of Ukraine began.

Potanin has played a big role in American arts: he has been a board member of New York’s Guggenheim Museum for two decades, until he stepped down on Wednesday. He has also given millions to the Kennedy Center in Washington, which carved his name into a wall. He is also known to have owned property in New York City , which came to light during a divorce fight that could cost him $7bn.

Potanin isn’t currently under US sanctions, which is good news for his three megayachts and two private jets (that we know about).

Leonid Mikhelson

Russia’s richest man in 2016, Leonid Mikhelson is the founder and chairman of natural gas producer Novatek, a close friend of Putin’s, and a business partner of Gennady Timchenko, a billionaire who has been under US sanctions since 2014.

Mikhelson loves art: along with his $200m art collection, he was on the board of trustees at New York’s New Museum from 2013 to 2017, and has sponsored exhibitions at the Art Institute of Chicago and London’s Tate Modern. His ostentatious superyacht, the Pacific, can reportedly accommodate two helicopters.

But his other assets may be harder to trace. In 2017, the Panama Papers revealed that Mikhelson had used an intricate system of shell companies to secretly register a $65m Gulfstream private jet in the United States, which in most cases requires US citizenship or permanent residency.

The tycoon is not currently subject to sanctions, though his company Novatek is.

Petr Aven is the head of Alfa Group, a commercial bank subject to US sanctions that helped him amass an estimated $5.5bn fortune. A well-known collector of classical Russian paintings, Aven has lent works from his collection – reportedly worth $200m – to New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Neue Galerie. Aven reportedly has never bought a plane or yacht, and told the FT “all my money goes in to art.” That is, of course, if you don’t count the millions he spent transforming an 8.5-acre plot in England into a “KGB-proof” mansion , complete with a bomb-proof panic room.

Last year, Aven filed a libel lawsuit against HarperCollins for a book it published about Vladimir Putin’s rise, Putin’s People.

Aven was sanctioned on Monday by the EU, which described him as “one of Vladimir Putin’s closest oligarchs” and one of “approximately 50 wealthy Russian businessmen who regularly meet with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin”. He has not yet been placed under sanctions by the US or UK.

Mikhail Fridman

Petr Aven’s business partner, Mikhail Fridman, is Alfa Group’s founder and a Ukrainian-born Russian oligarch. Fridman has made substantial investments in the United States, which include spending a reported $1bn in 2011 to buy up distressed properties across the east coast, telling the Wall Street Journal at the time, “The American market is the most well-regulated and liquid market in the world. It has the best protection for investor rights.”

Through Fridman’s investment group, LetterOne, the billionaire also sank $200m into Uber , and $50m into the telecom startup FreedomPop. Fridman also caused a stir in 2018 when he spoke alongside Aven at a closed-door dinner hosted by the Atlantic Council, a major US foreign policy thinktank, in what critics saw as an unofficial Kremlin mission to protest against US sanctions.

Last week, Fridman became one of the first oligarchs to speak out against the invasion of Ukraine, calling it a “tragedy” and writing that “war can never be the answer.” Nonetheless, Fridman was subjected to sanctions on Monday by the EU, which named him as “a top Russian financier and enabler of Putin’s inner circle”. Like Aven, he has not yet been placed under sanctions by the US or UK.

The oligarch has a son, Alexander, who is reportedly attending NYU’s Stern business school, after a stint in Moscow selling hookah .

Alexei Mordashov

Currently Russia’s richest man, Alexei Mordashov owns a third of Tui, Europe’s biggest tourism firm, and gained his billions as the chief executive of Russia’s largest steel and mining firm, Severstal. He is also a large shareholder of the Bank of Rossiya, which has opened up branches across Russia-occupied Ukrainian territory in recent years.

Over the last two decades, the billionaire has also poured money into the United States, investing heavily through Severstal in steel companies in the midwest before selling them for $2.3bn in 2014.

Mordashov has been hit with sanctions by the EU, but the US hasn’t taken action yet. They would be interested in his Bombardier Global 6000 private jet and multiple superyachts, including the $500m Nord, which Senator Bernie Sanders noted on Tuesday had been “sailing in the Seychelles region for more than 10 days” in a Twitter thread about Russian offshore wealth.

Roman Abramovich

Roman Abramovich, the longtime owner of Chelsea FC, has been described by a member of the UK parliament as a “ key enabler ” of Putin’s regime, which Abramovich has long denied. An orphan raised by his grandparents in Siberia, Abramovich pulled himself up by his bootstraps the old-fashioned way: wriggling into the inner circles of government and then profiting hugely by selling previously state-owned assets that he acquired after the fall of the Soviet Union.

The billionaire owns one of the world’s most outlandish yachts, complete with an onboard submarine and three helicopters. He has also owned a number of ultra-expensive properties in the United States, including a trio of buildings in New York City’s Upper East Side worth more than $90m combined, which he transferred to his third wife, Darya Zhukova, in 2018.

Abramovich is not currently under western sanctions. Earlier, the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, told the House of Commons that Abramovich was “already facing sanctions” though later said he “misspoke”.

This article was amended on 7 March 2022 to clarify that Leonid Mikhelson was on the New Museum’s board from from 2013 to 2017

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A Superiority Burger Partner Is Accused of Serial Scamming

Ashwin Deshmukh, also a part of Jean’s, is a Downtown New York nightlife magnet at the center of a New York Times article

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Share All sharing options for: A Superiority Burger Partner Is Accused of Serial Scamming

A nightlife magnet has been accused of mishandling finances for some of Downtown Manhattan’s hotspots.

Ashwin Deshmukh, an investor and partner in Superiority Burger, along with scene-y restaurant, Jean’s , is the subject of a gossipy New York Times Style piece that accused him of allegedly mishandling funds related to several projects, part of a larger portrait that includes accusations from over a decade of his misrepresenting himself and allegedly scamming people. Deshmukh replied “no comment” to an Eater follow-up.

The article details claims that Deshmukh owed $200,000 to June Kwan, the owner of a nearby vegan spot, Spicy Moon, whom he allegedly borrowed money from to invest in Superiority Burger. By the time of the publication, Deshmukh and Kwan had finalized paperwork related to the February filings. (Kwan’s business had separately come under scrutiny last year when a former chef sued her restaurant for alleged harassment ).

Sheryl Heefner, a general manager of Superiority Burger, which Eater named its “best new restaurant” for 2023, said: “As we told the NYT reporter, the lawsuits with June were the result of a misunderstanding and were discontinued in a matter of days — the time it took for the lawyers to exchange a few documents — and that she [June Kwan] is still a friend of Ash and part of SB.”

Around the same time, another lawsuit was filed for alleged nonpayment to Superiority Burger’s construction team, Bellwood, with Deshmukh named as a defendant, “which claims that he entered a $342,603 promissory note with the builder in November 2022 and failed to fulfill it,” the Times stated.

In the article, the NYT author notes that the suit asks for a lien foreclosure, “which could, at least in theory, force a sale of the building whose storefront Superiority Burger rents.”

Heefner responded in a statement to Eater: “The building is not in jeopardy from the mechanic’s lien. We are in the process of reviewing and responding to the action. We cannot say much because it is active and because we still hope to resolve it with the contractor. We can say that we paid over $600,000 and there were multiple issues involving delays and additional charges about which we disagree.”

If you spend enough time in a certain part of Downtown Manhattan, it is hard to not brush with Deshmukh, who has become something of a kingpin in nightlife, regularly described as affable, generous, charming, and mysterious. Others say he is a grifter.

In 2023, he opened Jean’s , an always-busy restaurant with a nightclub that attracts celebrities in the basement. Deshmukh’s business partner, Max Chodorow, said in a statement to the Times that, “his previous business projects prior to Jean’s are a story many entrepreneurs trying to own and operate a business in NYC may be familiar with.’’ He added, “Ash brings years of marketing talent which balances out my unique history of operations in the restaurant industry.” Eater has reached out to Chodorow for comment.

What is indisputable is that Deshmukh has a knack for marketing. Over the years, he’s become known for making establishments into scenes, with moves like providing complimentary Williamsburg Pizza to parties of Downtown’s darlings. In 2022, Eater’s sibling publication at Vox Media, New York magazine put Williamsburg Pizza as one of its “Reasons to Love New York.”

The article also states that Aaron McCann, the pizza chain’s owner, was initially “thrilled” with the marketing efforts of Deshmukh, who was an investor and still lists Williamsburg Pizza in his Instagram bio, but the Times ’s reporting claims the duo has since fallen out due to accusations that McCann eventually caught on to the fact that Deshmukh lured investors, without authorization to do so, under false pretenses for the business and ran away with their money. It appears to be a similar story for the owners of the bar, Short Stories on the Bowery, with whom Deshmukh is no longer involved for similar accusations that he stole thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, Deshmukh also has new ventures in the works: Across the street from Jean’s, at 428 Lafayette Street, he is also a part of bringing La Grange, “a new restaurant for New York” to life. In addition, he lists Magic Tiger, “a new tasty thing,” in his bio. The status of both was not immediately clear.

This is a developing story.

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Iconic 'little blue boat' that calls Montrose Bay home up for sale after family makes tough decision

For almost 50 years a little blue boat has been moored on the River Derwent in Hobart's northern suburbs by the side of a busy highway.

It is known affectionately by many Tasmanians as "the little blue boat", and has floated alone next to the Brooker Highway at Montrose Bay over the decades.

Sea Breeze, its official name, was built by Robin Attrill in his Montrose backyard in the early 1970s.

His son Colin Attrill said the boat was launched at Macquarie Wharf in 1976.

"It's been on the mooring in Montrose Bay ever since, and that's why it's such an iconic little blue boat," he said.

Tasmanians curious about 'little blue boat'

The boat is an object of fascination for Brooker Highway motorists and foreshore walkers due to it seemingly never moving.

Colin Attrill said it was "absolutely amazing" the number of people who would stop and talk to him about the boat when he was launching the dinghy to go and check on it.

"The number of people that talk to me that are walking past and go 'that boat has been there forever' and 'it was there when I was going to school or every day when I've been driving to work'," he said.

"Some people say they've never seen it move. Well it used to move all the time.

"Of late it's slowed up, we're all busy and dad has slowed up. We lost mum and once that happened it impacted on family activities."

Tough decision to sell

Its owner is now 91 and the boat has not been sailed for about 10 years.

Colin Attrill said the family had recently made the tough decision to try to sell the boat.

"Dad isn't well and he's gotten old, which we all do, and the boat's got old," he said.

"Anyone who knows about a timber boat knows that they need maintenance."

Mr Attrill said the family used to put the boat on the slip at least once a year to clean and antifoul it, and do any repairs.

"But the past few years Dad has been unable to do anything, and the boat unfortunately has just sat on the mooring," he said.

He said the family decided it was time for the boat to have a new owner.

"Nobody is using it, it needs a new owner who will give it the time and get the enjoyment out of it that we had growing up," he said.

"It's a great boat, and there are many years left. Wooden boats just last."

'Next phase' for the boat

The Attrill family is full of passionate sailors and Robin's brother Peter represented Australia in sailing at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 — Tasmania's fifth Olympian and the first to represent the state in sailing.

When Robin finished building the 25-foot river cruiser, known by the family as The Breeze, it was used for trips away around Hobart.

"We used to have family trips down the channel, down to Cygnet, down to Dover, and all places in between fishing and weekends away," he said.

"We also used to go to events in Hobart like the Hobart Regatta, the Sandy Bay Regatta. We'd be down the river at any chance, or up the river. She made it to New Norfolk a couple of times.

"The boat was all over the place, wherever we could."

Mr Attrill said it would be a sad day when the boat left Montrose Bay after almost 50 years.

"We will see where it goes and where it ends up and what's the next phase for the boat," he said.

Over the years its owner has been keeping a watchful eye on it just a matter of metres away, across the Brooker Highway from his Montrose home of more than 70 years.

"He's always been there. He'd open the blinds in the morning in the kitchen and look out the window and there's the boat," son Colin said.

"It's always been a part of his life."

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How to Win Friends and Hustle People

Ashwin Deshmukh built a reputation as a nightlife impresario by burning close friends, new acquaintances, big corporations, local bars and even his subletter.

Ashwin Deshmukh at the nightclub Jean’s in 2022. Credit... Matteo Prandoni/BFA.com, via Shutterstock

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By Joseph Bernstein

• Published March 14, 2024 Updated March 17, 2024

Sometimes, you meet someone in New York who gives you a good feeling and a bad feeling at the same time. Maybe you’re introduced at a bar, through a friend of a friend. This person is charming and full of ideas, ideas that resonate with you. He seems to know everyone you know, and some other people you follow only on social media. You like him, even though you wonder whether he’s for real. He has a story about the city and his place in it, a story in which he may invite you to play a role. This is tempting. You get the sense that he has a momentum unlike other people’s, toward a destination that could be glamorous — or maybe catastrophic.

One such person is Ashwin Deshmukh, the 38-year-old managing partner of Superiority Burger, one of the most acclaimed restaurants in New York.

Since reopening last April, the high-low vegetarian diner in the East Village has garnered a three-star review from The New York Times, a James Beard Award nomination, and the title, bestowed by GQ magazine, of “Buzziest Restaurant in America.” That it took over the space once occupied by the venerable Odessa Restaurant, saving the neighborhood from yet another Duane Reade or Capital One, has made it only more beloved.

But June Kwan, the owner of the East Village Sichuan restaurant Spicy Moon, does not love Superiority Burger — or at least, the people behind the restaurant. In February, she sued them twice. The first suit asserts that since 2021, when Ms. Kwan invested a quarter of a million dollars in Superiority Burger through Mr. Deshmukh, the business has gone dark, refusing to send her proof of her equity, and eventually ignoring her altogether. The second suit alleges that in 2022, Ms. Kwan lent $200,000 to Mr. Deshmukh, and that he hasn’t repaid a penny.

Text messages attached to the suits capture the breakdown of Mr. Deshmukh’s relationship with Ms. Kwan, a Taiwanese immigrant who started her business in middle age. Ahead of Ms. Kwan’s initial investment, Mr. Deshmukh wrote to her that “I am so confident in this and our friendship that I am happy to personally guarantee your investment on a five-year basis.”

In October 2022, after a month of asking Mr. Deshmukh to repay the loan in increasingly desperate terms, Ms. Kwan wrote: “I have supported you with my full heart, but now you don’t pay me back the money and don’t update what happened to sb when I’m a shareholder. I don’t sleep well because of this.”

Later that month, she wrote again: “Ash, give me some answer please. Where in the world are you?” And again, a few days later: “Where are you? Ash… where are you?”

Had Ms. Kwan gone looking for him, the businessman and promoter was likely to be found somewhere in a small rectangle of Manhattan where he had spent the previous decade dragging himself ever closer to the heart of downtown clout. This rectangle was formed in the northeast, at Avenue A and St. Marks Place, by Superiority Burger; in the southwest, at Mercer Street and Prince Street, by Fanelli Cafe, above which he has lived; in the southeast, at Broome Street and Allen Street, by Williamsburg Pizza, which he has told many people, including reporters at The Washington Post , that he owns; and finally, in the northwest, at Lafayette Street and East 4th Street by Jean’s, a popular nightclub and restaurant where he is a partner. Here, dressed in a tuxedo and sporting bleach blond hair, he posed for an Instagram photo , his hand resting on the hood of a teal Mercedes, at about the same time June Kwan was begging him for her money.

Ms. Kwan’s suits were filed on Feb. 1 and 2. On March 8, Mr. Deshmukh agreed to be served, less than an hour after receiving a fact-checking inquiry from The Times. Five days later, Ms. Kwan agreed to drop the suits after the parties settled.

Sheryl Heefner, Superiority Burger’s general manager, wrote in a statement that “Ashwin has been critical to the development of Superiority Burger,” adding, “he is also my friend who I love working alongside.”

Mr. Deshmukh is not famous, but he is widely known among downtown tech investors, restaurateurs, bar owners, journalists, fashionistas, podcasters, D.J.s and influencers. If you work in New York in the culture industry — in media, fashion, art, music, publishing — it is a distinct possibility that you have gone to a party at Jean’s sponsored by a cool brand or a brand trying to be cool, or else eaten a slice of one of the pizzas he sent to a birthday party or an opening or a corporate event. And if not, the Instagram algorithm may have shown you one of these things. You are probably aware of the world of Ashwin Deshmukh, even if you don’t know it.

Most people who meet Mr. Deshmukh say he is intelligent, informed, funny, kind and slightly elusive, in a quirky way. But among the many New Yorkers who know Mr. Deshmukh only a bit, there is a subgroup of people who know him a bit more. These people, who are numerous, embarrassed and still finding one another, will say that Ashwin Deshmukh is a thief.

In response to a detailed list of questions, Mr. Deshmukh responded with an email through a representative at Jean’s disputing many aspects of this story without providing further detail.

Ben Carlos Thypin met Mr. Deshmukh in 2012, through a mutual friend. Mr. Thypin is a real estate broker and political player, who co-founded Open New York, a prominent pro-housing group. But at the time, he was an unproven heir to a steel-turned-real estate fortune, eager to make a name for himself. His first impression of Mr. Deshmukh, he said, was that he “seemed like a smart and knowledgeable guy.”

As the men became friends over occasional drinks and more frequent texts, Mr. Thypin came to appreciate Mr. Deshmukh’s well-articulated ideas about trends in technology and investing. True, Mr. Deshmukh said he ran a hedge fund on behalf of high-net-worth individuals from outside the United States, which Mr. Thypin found hard to square with Mr. Deshmukh’s slovenly dress, casual manner and the fact that he wouldn’t let anyone see his apartment. But everyone in New York had a story, Mr. Thypin reasoned. Besides, Mr. Deshmukh was quoted in a 2010 piece in The New York Observer as working for a hedge fund.

In 2014, Mr. Thypin said, Mr. Deshmukh approached him with an opportunity: to buy a stake in a promising software start-up through a specialized business he had created to bundle small investments. Mr. Thypin said he had sent $5,000 to Mr. Deshmukh and then forgotten about it. For him, $5,000 wasn’t much money — which was maybe why he didn’t do more due diligence on Mr. Deshmukh.

In 2016, Mr. Thypin got a Google alert that the software company had been bought. He called Mr. Deshmukh to celebrate. But according to Mr. Thypin, Mr. Deshmukh didn’t call or text him back, and didn’t respond to his emails. Only then did Mr. Thypin search for the LLC he had wired the money to, and found that it had never been registered in New York. He then tried to look for the hedge fund Mr. Deshmukh said he worked for, but couldn’t find any evidence it existed.

Mr. Thypin’s first reaction to losing the money was shame. He was a rich guy who had gotten taken for a ride by a charismatic hustler — a New York cliché. Later, he said, he resigned himself to the fact that if Mr. Deshmukh was “that hard up he would steal from his friend, he must be in dire straits.” Mr. Thypin decided to move on.

But he kept hearing stories about other people who had been tricked in the exact same way. There was Rich Abreu, who said he had invested $12,500 in two businesses through Mr. Deshmukh. He, too, had stopped hearing from him. There was Kenny Chen, who in 2014 had given Mr. Deshmukh more than $100,000 to invest in the media start-up On Ramp. The company’s then-chief executive, Harry Poloner, told The Times he had to break the news to Mr. Chen that Mr. Deshmukh had never invested any money. And there was Jonathan Kule, who said he gave Mr. Deshmukh $10,000 to invest in a luxury subscription box business, after which Mr. Deshmukh stopped responding to him.

Not all these men were sophisticated tech investors: Mr. Abreu, for example, owned a Midtown streetwear showroom. Nor were they all in a position to wave away thousands of dollars — Mr. Kule had just bought a house, and didn’t have much cash on hand.

Mr. Kule also felt personally wounded. He had thought Mr. Deshmukh was slightly odd — he told Mr. Kule that he worked on behalf of a family office in Paris, but he sometimes smelled like he hadn’t showered in days. But they had become tight, and had made plans to make further investments together.

“The scary thing is that all the while, I considered you to be a close friend and confidant whom we shared deep and personal stories with regarding our personal lives,” Mr. Kule wrote in an email that he shared with The Times.

In 2017, Mr. Chen sued Mr. Deshmukh, but Mr. Deshmukh didn’t respond to demand letters. Eventually, a process server tracked down Mr. Deshmukh in the Williamsburg Pizza on Broome Street, where she handed him the complaint and snapped his photograph. (According to Mr. Chen’s lawyer, Arthur Soong, Mr. Chen dropped the suit after he reached a settlement with Mr. Deshmukh.)

Mr. Kule filed a suit, too, but dropped it after Mr. Deshmukh’s father agreed to pay him $11,500. In an email that Mr. Kule shared with The Times, Mr. Deshmukh’s father writes: “Ashwin has asked me to give you the money he owes you. I appreciate you reaching out to settle the matter. On the other hand you probably can understand my reluctance and difficulty in paying off his obligation.” (His father did not respond to requests for comment about his son’s legal troubles.)

And Mr. Thypin, who had gotten over his shame in the face of what he felt was a “white collar crime spree,” joined Mr. Abreu in suing Mr. Deshmukh in New York civil court in 2018.

That summer, Mr. Thypin was scrolling through Instagram when he noticed that a friend had started a new bar on the Bowery called Short Stories, and that Mr. Deshmukh was one of his partners. Alarmed, he called his friend, who confirmed that Mr. Deshmukh was managing promotion for the bar. (This friend and another partner of the bar asked not to be named because of the potential financial implications of being associated with Mr. Deshmukh, but they corroborated the account that Mr. Thypin gave The Times and provided more details.)

Mr. Thypin’s friend first encountered Mr. Deshmukh at a tech investment meet-up at the East Village bar Scratcher, where he presented himself as a hedge fund manager working on behalf of a family office in India. The two started to go to parties together, where the partner was impressed that Mr. Deshmukh seemed to know everyone downtown. When he opened Short Stories, he brought Mr. Deshmukh in as a junior partner, but he kept him off the company’s bank accounts.

Shortly after this friend talked to Mr. Thypin, Mr. Deshmukh reached out to the lawyer representing Mr. Thypin and Mr. Abreu to settle their suit, citing his wish to prevent “contact from your clients to my family or business associates or interference with my existing contacts.” The parties signed a settlement in August 2018 for $17,500. But Mr. Deshmukh never paid, and the court ruled in January 2019 that he had defaulted. By this point, the pair thought the settlement with Mr. Chen had left Mr. Deshmukh broke. They dropped it.

Then, a few years later, Mr. Thypin was at a party on the Lower East Side when he overheard some people talking about a bar on the Bowery getting ripped off. He asked them if it was Short Stories, and they said yes. He called his friend, the partner at the bar, who said it was true, and that Mr. Deshmukh was responsible.

The partners told The Times that for several years Mr. Deshmukh had worked diligently as a promoter. He had gotten Diplo to come to the bar, and Kaia Gerber, and ASAP Rocky , along with a parade of the internet ’s semifamous, all of whom he captured on social media. The bar was a success, they said, in part because of how well Mr. Deshmukh had marketed it. He built up trust. In 2021, they gave Mr. Deshmukh access to one of the company’s bank accounts so he could handle business expenses.

Shortly after, they checked on the account and discovered that more than $100,000 was missing. They tried to track down Mr. Deshmukh, who was suddenly hard to reach. Eventually, after threatening to contact his family, the partners confronted Mr. Deshmukh in person. They said that Mr. Deshmukh agreed to pay back some of the money, as well as give up his equity in the bar. When the partners informed Mr. Deshmukh they were taking away his Short Stories email account, he began to cry. (Around the same time, Mr. Deshmukh listed himself as the co-owner of Short Stories on a city liquor license application for Superiority Burger.)

Meanwhile, the demise of another business relationship was playing out 10 blocks away at Williamsburg Pizza, whose pies Mr. Deshmukh often handed out at Short Stories. According to Aaron McCann, the chain’s owner, Mr. Deshmukh invested a small amount of money in the Broome Street location of the six-shop chain in 2014, and offered to run the company’s social media accounts.

For years, Mr. Deshmukh spearheaded efforts to send pizzas to brands and micro-celebrities; encouraged influencers and prominent friends who bought the pizzas to tag the shop; and featured others on Williamsburg Pizza’s Instagram page, all in an effort to make it the coolest pizza in the city. Here was Rupi Kaur, the Canadian poet, posing with a Williamsburg Pizza, her name piped on top in creamy ricotta. There was the Vogue writer Zachary Weiss at Temple Bar, holding a pizza that read “Aries Daddy.” The D.J. Michael Bibi celebrated a New York show with a pizza. Eva Chen, Instagram’s director of fashion partnerships, celebrated her son’s birthday with a pizza. The cult skin care maven and influencer Marta Mae Freedman posted a pizza, as did the viral street interviewer Isaac Hindin-Miller, and the beauty and baking influencer Dana Hasson. At Mr. Deshmukh’s club, Jean’s, The New York Times reporter Joe Coscarelli and The New Yorker writer Carrie Battan posed with one of the pizzas they bought for guests at their wedding party. In 2022, after New York magazine heralded Williamsburg Pizza in its “Reasons to Love New York” issue, Mr. Deshmukh tweeted a knowing reference to how effective his efforts had been.

Mr. McCann said he was thrilled with Mr. Deshmukh’s work and the attention it brought to his business. But then something strange started to happen. The owner said he was approached, repeatedly, by people he didn’t know who said they had invested in the shop through Mr. Deshmukh and hadn’t received any money.

“When we learned the extent of Ashwin’s dishonest practices, we terminated the relationship with him,” Mr. McCann said.

One confused investor was Brady Donnelly, who had gone to New York University with Mr. Deshmukh and founded a creative agency called Hungry in 2014. Soon after, Mr. Donnelly hired Mr. Deshmukh as a contractor to do business development. Mr. Deshmukh had pitched him in 2013 on an investment of several thousand dollars in Williamsburg Pizza.

“It’s one of the great mysteries of my life,” said Mr. Donnelly, of the fate of his money. “A couple of years passed and I never got a single financial report, no money back. I’m not even sure if the paper I signed was real paperwork.”

Eventually, Mr. Donnelly confronted Mr. Deshmukh about the money, and Mr. Deshmukh showed up with a cashier’s check and no explanation. But after Mr. Deshmukh stopped working for him, Mr. Donnelly said he learned that Mr. Deshmukh had been touting himself as a co-founder of Hungry to drum up business for himself — at which point Mr. Donnelly sent Mr. Deshmukh a cease and desist letter.

One business Mr. Deshmukh attracted was Oatly, the cult oat milk brand, which contracted Mr. Deshmukh in 2019 to redesign its website. Without Mr. Donnelly’s knowledge, he claimed in his pitch that Mr. Donnelly would lead production and editorial strategy.

That Mr. Deshmukh got in the room in the first place, with no real experience, was somewhat astounding — Oatly was already generating $200 million in revenue by 2019. He was there largely because he was friends with an Oatly employee, who did not want to be named because she did not want to be publicly associated with possible fraud. But her story was confirmed by an Oatly spokesman, Brendan P. Lewis. According to the employee, she met Mr. Deshmukh in 2017, when she wandered into the Broome Street pizzeria and the two began chatting. They became close friends, and he was effusive in his praise for her.

“I love you a lot,” he wrote in a text message from early 2019 that she shared with The Times. “You have the energy and light that helps everyone around you. Your capacity to care and take care is astounding. I cannot wait to see how you impact the world in a way that everyone will know and talk about you. Your spirit cannot be replicated. You remain, my favorite.”

In the summer of 2019, the Oatly employee told Mr. Deshmukh — whom she believed to be the co-founder of Hungry — about the website redesign, and encouraged him to put himself forward. Mr. Deshmukh showed up at the Oatly office with an ambitious proposal that wowed the company’s creative director. Oatly awarded Mr. Deshmukh the contract, for $266,333, over a handful of established national agencies. In August, he traveled to Malmo, Sweden, for a victory lap at the company’s headquarters, where he met with Oatly’s then-chief executive, Toni Petersson.

The good feelings didn’t last. Mr. Deshmukh hired a few people for the project, including an old colleague from Hungry named Mark Lewis, who is unrelated to the Oatly spokesman. But Mr. Deshmukh went dark for days at a time, and Mr. Lewis began receiving emails from Oatly asking why they hadn’t produced anything. He felt awkward — Mr. Deshmukh wasn’t responding to the messages, and Mr. Lewis didn’t know where he was. Not to mention, Mr. Deshmukh still hadn’t fully compensated him for the trip to Malmo, which Mr. Lewis had paid for out of pocket.

“Everyone was very uncomfortable,” Mr. Lewis said.

Then, at a meeting with an increasingly concerned Oatly team later that fall, Mr. Deshmukh brought nothing to present except screenshots from his original, months-old pitch. Concerned, Mr. Lewis said he tracked down some of the flashy names Mr. Deshmukh had told Oatly would be involved in the project and asked them if they had ever heard from him. None had. He remembered realizing two things: Mr. Deshmukh was cheating Oatly, and he had no loyalty to him. He told Oatly.

According to Brendan P. Lewis, the Oatly spokesman, the company managed to claw back some of the money from Mr. Deshmukh and cancel the contract. But the Oatly employee who led Mr. Deshmukh into the company was devastated. How could he put her in such a terrible position? She said she made plans with him several times so she could confront him, but he kept canceling at the last minute. She had a feeling she would never see him again.

But she did, once. Six months later, early in the pandemic, she was biking downtown, when she saw Mr. Deshmukh outside Short Stories. She said he pulled down his face mask and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

As the people who had given Mr. Deshmukh money found one another, largely thanks to Mr. Thypin, they marveled at the scope and interconnectedness of his hustles, as well as the sheer democratic quality of the deception: He played close friends and new acquaintances, the very rich and the middle class, large corporations and local bars.

They were left with an enormous number of questions, but one above all: What kind of person would do all of this? Almost all of them described Mr. Deshmukh as intelligent, charismatic, capable and hardworking. Surely this was a man who could have found success in any domain.

Mr. Deshmukh, the son of a cardiologist, arrived at N.Y.U. in the fall of 2003 from Sayre, Pa., a 5,000-person town on the New York border. One of his first friends in college was Roberto A. Felipe, a New Yorker who had grown up working class in Corona, Queens. Mr. Felipe said that Mr. Deshmukh had confided in him about his hangups with his weight and how to meet women. In retrospect, Mr. Felipe wasn’t sure if these confessions were genuine or part of Mr. Deshmukh’s manipulation.

“He relies on sympathy from people by disclosing things,” Mr. Felipe said.

By the time Mr. Deshmukh was a senior, he had cultivated a campus mystique. In 2007, he was featured as part of a package in the N.Y.U. student newspaper on “NYU’s 14 most influential students.” The writer introduces Mr. Deshmukh by stating, dramatically, that he had agreed to participate in the profile only at the last second.

“I’ve only heard a fraction of his history. But from what I’ve heard, it’s fascinating. Unfortunately, a fraction is really all that Deshmukh offers to anyone,” the article reads. “Most of what I offer here is second-hand, but that’s part of Deshmukh’s appeal. Though charismatic and personable, he never tells you the whole story — and therein lies his success.”

The profile goes on to note that while he was an undergrad, Mr. Deshmukh had “dabbled in New York real estate, steel industries and trading,” and that he had been hired by a hedge fund before graduation. Beneath the article’s text, Mr. Deshmukh appears in a dark suit jacket, with his arms crossed over his chest.

After college, Mr. Felipe and Mr. Deshmukh exchanged Facebook messages in which, Mr. Felipe said, Mr. Deshmukh told him that he was back and forth between Paris and New York, managing a hedge fund. Later, Mr. Deshmukh told him that he had moved home to Pennsylvania to take care of some health issues. But he would drive into the city once in a while and crash at Mr. Felipe’s apartment. Sometimes they talked about investment strategies, and Mr. Felipe started to introduce Mr. Deshmukh to his network: Mr. Thypin and Rich Abreu, the streetwear showroom owner with whom Mr. Felipe grew up in Corona.

When Mr. Felipe brought Mr. Deshmukh to the West 39th Street showroom, Mr. Abreu sized up Mr. Deshmukh, who was eager to nerd out about Supreme, as a “fanboy.”

“He was kind of a poseur type of guy: hedge fund but trying to dress streetwear,” Mr. Abreu said. “He didn’t seem very authentic to me.”

Whether Mr. Deshmukh ever worked for a hedge fund is unclear. Mr. Deshmukh told people that he worked on behalf of a family office in, variously, Paris, Switzerland and India, but he never offered specifics. People who knew him wondered whether he was too embarrassed to admit that he was living off a trust fund — not an uncommon phenomenon among young New Yorkers. But the fact that Mr. Deshmukh needed his father to pay off Mr. Kule suggests he may not have had any money of his own at all.

From 2016 to 2018, Mr. Deshmukh sublet a room to an N.Y.U. student named Marié Nobematsu-Le Gassic in an East Village apartment he rented. Upon moving in, she was surprised by the condition of the apartment, where Mr. Deshmukh would sometimes sleep. There were French fries stuck to the floor, she remembered, and paper advertisements for strippers littered throughout the unit. The wireless internet went out for months at a time, and Mr. Deshmukh asked her not to use air conditioning in the summer, because, she remembered him saying, he was down to his last dime. One day a process server came to the door, but she had no idea where Mr. Deshmukh was: She was unsure of where he stayed when he wasn’t there.

(Ms. Nobematsu-Le Gassic obtained a court order this year to force Mr. Deshmukh to pay her $7,250 for a security deposit he never returned — a somewhat more prosaic New York scenario. “I screwed you over,” Mr. Deshmukh wrote in a text to her that she shared with The Times, about the outstanding money.)

When Mr. Deshmukh was in the apartment, Ms. Nobematsu-Le Gassic said, he was often trying to figure out how to do viral brand collaborations with Williamsburg Pizza and Short Stories, or talking about his attempts to get attractive women to come to Williamsburg Pizza to take photos for Instagram. He spoke frequently about Caroline Calloway, the millennial influencer who became famous in the 2010s for lying extravagantly and then writing about it. (In a text message, Ms. Calloway confirmed that she was friendly with Mr. Deshmukh, whom she understood to have comped her 28th birthday party at Short Stories in 2018, a gesture she found “kind and generous.”)

“He wants to be seen and be important in New York,” Ms. Nobematsu-Le Gassic said. “But I didn’t know if he had any money.”

Mr. Thypin, who has spent a lot of time thinking about Mr. Deshmukh, believes Mr. Deshmukh is a chameleon, driven by insecurity, who has changed colors again and again in pursuit of status. At first he worked for a hedge fund, or at least he said he did. Then, in the early 2010s, he became a venture capitalist. Then he became a creative director — the ultimate cool-guy millennial pursuit — or tried to. And finally, as cultural energy in New York shifted back to the city’s downtown, he reinvented himself as a nightlife impresario, a scene-maker.

Along the way he has transformed his appearance from an eager, full-faced tech bro in a Supreme cap to an unsmiling club baron with downtown stubble, posing for Instagram in Isaia, Stone Island and Balenciaga.

A popular theory among the aggrieved is that Mr. Deshmukh’s manipulations are all leverage plays, similar to the efforts of Adam Sandler’s character in “Uncut Gems” — every dollar he takes goes toward his next move, with no safety net.

The lawsuits by June Kwan have been settled, but Superiority Burger was also sued in January by its builder, Bellwood, for nonpayment. Mr. Deshmukh is named as a defendant in the suit, which claims that he entered a $342,603 promissory note with the builder in November 2022 and failed to fulfill it. The suit asks for a mechanic’s lien foreclosure, which could, at least in theory, force a sale of the building whose storefront Superiority Burger rents.

But for the time being, Mr. Deshmukh is somebody in New York. His co-partner in the club and restaurant Jean’s is Max Chodorow, the son of Jeffrey Chodorow, the restaurateur.

In an email response to a question about Mr. Deshmukh’s legal troubles and history of misrepresenting himself to get money, Mr. Chodorow wrote, “His previous business projects prior to Jean’s are a story many entrepreneurs trying to own and operate a business in NYC may be familiar with.’’ He added, “Ash brings years of marketing talent which balances out my unique history of operations in the restaurant industry.”

Now, the people who feel used by Mr. Deshmukh watch his social media with a mix of horror, astonishment and something else, something closer to the mix of envy and judgment we all feel when we spend too long on Instagram.

In October, the oil heiress and socialite Ivy Getty threw a Halloween party at Jean’s; Anya Taylor-Joy showed up, as did Prince Achileas-Andreas of Greece and Denmark, dressed as a racecar driver. In November, Jean’s hosted a party celebrating a collaboration between Paco Rabanne and H&M; Emily Ratajkowski and Chloë Sevigny crowded in a booth. In February, the men’s wear designer Willy Chavarria celebrated his fashion week show with a party at Jean’s. Julia Fox and Amanda Lepore were there.

Mr. Deshmukh spent much of the night in a back booth, getting up to fetch a bottle of Don Julio from the bar, and to take a video of the crowd. At one point, he posed for a photo with a lifestyle journalist and the creative director of Hugo Boss. He was looking off, away from the camera, as if his thoughts were somewhere else.

Callie Holtermann and Manasa Gudavalli contributed reporting.

Joseph Bernstein is a Times reporter who writes feature stories for the Styles section. More about Joseph Bernstein

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California yacht owner threatens to kill dock worker in vicious showdown, cali yacht owner threatens to kill dock worker drops pants for rude salute, 95 3/13/2024 8:09 am pt.

A California yacht owner's vicious beef with a dock worker has reached death-threat levels -- and their exchange was caught on camera and included a nude, and very rude, gesture!

Check out the clip ... it all unfolds when San Diego entrepreneur Ajay Thakore swings by the swanky Marriott Marquis Marina in his rare $4.5M Tecnomar for Lamborghini 63 yacht to pick up one of his employees -- but things boil over when dock worker Joseph Holt tells him he can't be there.

Thakore, the CEO of medical advertising firm Doctor Multimedia, flips out on Holt big time ... and starts spewing threats like, "I will kill you, you know I will kill you, I will kill."

And it doesn't stop there -- as Thakore's pulling out of the harbor, he drops trou to make a full frontal salute in Holt's direction. Stay classy, San Diego!

Holt's only retaliation was flipping the bird, and he later told CBS8 that was all he could do to keep his cool and avoid escalating the situation.

Holt says parts of the altercation were not captured on camera, and he adds ... Thakore not only threatened to kill him, but also claimed to have connections who could totally mess up his life.

Holt also says Thakore pulled out $100 bills and tossed them at him, even chucking some in the water.

BTW, Thakore's done some backpedaling since the ugly exchange -- he now says, "The interaction that occurred yesterday was regrettable. What started as a minor misunderstanding escalated into an argument, and I apologize for my actions and to those who witnessed the unfortunate exchange."

Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media.

FWIW ... One of Thakore’s employees claims the whole thing began because other dock workers blocked him from boarding the yacht.

Oh, and if that fancy Lambo yacht looks familiar -- it's the same one Chuck Liddell recently tumbled off just last month. Now it's famous AND infamous!

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8 Yacht Clubs and Marinas in the Philippines to Moor Your Boat In

FoodfindsAsia.com | 8 Yacht Clubs and Marinas in the Philippines to Moor Your Boat In | Filipinos’ history as a maritime people date back to prehistoric times. In fact, the Philippines’ basic sociopolitical unit today, the barangay, traces its etymological origins to the balangay , the ancient outrigger boats that were used by precolonial Filipino communities to explore and conquer islands this side of the Pacific. As a people belonging to a seafaring culture, it’s no wonder that modern Filipinos are taking a retrospective look at their glorious past as Austronesian mariners and are developing a renewed love for the ocean and marinas as present-day yachtsmen.

Today, Philippine marinas look to accommodate more and more yachts and other pleasure watercrafts as the years go by. In 2017, an ASEAN Briefing op-ed piece named the Philippines as a country with high potential in yacht industry growth. The natural beauty of the Philippine islands and its fantastic bays, combined with a growing interest in leisurely sea travel, can explain the spike in yachting activities throughout the country.

Are you part of the demographic that’s become enamored of the yachting lifestyle? Do you want to know where in the country you can berth your watercraft? Leading sailboat and motorboat authority Europa Yachts is happy to enter the conversation, and recommends the following locations for discovering the Philippines through yachting. Here is a short list of clubs and marinas in the country, organized by island region.  

Manila Yacht Club and Marina, Manila, Metro Manila

Established in 1927, the Manila Yacht Club and Marina is one of the oldest yacht clubs in all of Asia, and is nestled in the scenic Manila Bay. It is also near other well-known landmarks in the city, such as the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), the headquarters of the Philippine Navy, and the US Embassy. Facilities in the marina include a launching ramp and a fueling center, and the club itself is host to a restaurant and gorgeous function rooms. The Manila Yacht Club only welcomes visitors who arrive by boat, and it charges an initial security deposit of USD 750 upon arrival. Club membership is mandatory for medium and long-term mooring of boats.

Subic Bay Yacht Club, Zambales

The Subic Bay Yacht Club, which was founded in 1998, upholds itself as the country’s premier yacht club. It operates in the deepest bay in the country, and can host vessels well beyond 50 meters in length. Already benefitting from the innate beauty of the Zambales mountains surrounding it, the club hosts a number of other attractions, including its luxury accommodations, swimming pools, and its own movie theater, bowling alley, and nightclub. Those who venture outside of the club’s premises can also shop for well-priced imported goods at the Subic Freeport Zone, engage in water sports , or sign up for diving excursions.

Punta Fuego Yacht Club, Batangas

Peaceful Punta Fuego is a mecca for those who love the sport of sailing. As per its official website, the Punta Fuego Yacht Club aims to serve “a dynamic and vibrant community of boat enthusiasts and yacht owners.” This it does by playing host to a diverse population of watercrafts, from large catamarans and mono-hull yachts to small boats. Non-members of the club may use the berths for up to 3 weeks, and can refuel at the marina’s fueling station. The yacht club offers other amenities such as locker rooms, shower rooms, Internet facilities, a chart room, and a restaurant called Barracuda Bar, which serves delicious fares. Outside of the yachting crowd, Punta Fuego Yacht Club also caters to those wishing to celebrate weddings, conferences, and corporate events in their opulent quarters.

Puerto Galera Yacht Club, Oriental Mindoro

Further south, yachtsmen may moor at the Puerto Galera Yacht Club in Oriental Mindoro, an island location that’s home to tourist attractions like the Sabang Wreck dive site, lively beachfront resorts, and the Malasimbo Music Festival. Puerto Galera Yacht Club has been in operation for almost thirty years and lends services such as refueling provisions and yacht repairs from its marina. Boat owners also enjoy optimal convenience if mooring here, as they can also shop for spare parts in the nearby Batangas port.

Busuanga Yacht Club, Puerta del Sol Bay Marina, Palawan

Beautiful Palawan is a bucket-list destination for many, especially those who dream of cruising its crystalline waters. Accommodating the yachting community in this island province is the Busuanga Yacht Club, which promises secure mooring amidst breathtaking white-sand beaches. Here, each vessel will benefit from a typhoon-safe harbor, easy refueling, and direct access to transportation hubs like the New Busuanga Airport. Adjoining this marina is the Puerta del Sol Bay Resort, which offers luxurious accommodations to visitors. When not atop the deck of a boat, travelers can also explore the lagoons and freshwater lakes of Coron, go shipwreck diving, or relax in the hot springs of Maquinit.

Iloilo Sailing Club, Arevelo, Iloilo City, Iloilo

Iloilo Province is home to some of the country’s most beautiful old-world architecture, a flourishing ecotourism industry, and delectably fresh seafood cuisine. What will round off an unforgettable visit to Iloilo, however, is an excursion to the Iloilo Sailing Club on a leisure watercraft. The club accepts visitors and encourages membership in the case of medium and long-stay mooring. It also hosts a number of amenities and activities, including a dinghy storage, a beach bar and restaurant, and classes for those who want to learn about sailing. In recent months, the Iloilo Sailing Club has also been a convenient meet-up point for big maritime events, such as the Iloilo-Guimaras Paraw Regatta and the Seafarers’ Job Fair.

Cebu Yacht Club, Mactan Island, Cebu

The historic Mactan Island in Cebu was the site of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan’s arrival in the Philippines. Now known as a commercial hub that hosts a prolific furniture and musical instruments industries, Mactan is also the location of the Cebu Yacht Club, an institution that is beloved by the locals. Aside from being an ideal spot to restock on much-needed fuel and supplies, the Cebu Yacht Club is also a trusted club to commission for boat repairs. There’s a good vibe in this club for everybody, as it sports both luxury accommodations and a waterfront strip of restaurants that laid-back diners can frequent. MINDANAO

Holiday Oceanview Marina, Samal Island, Davao del Norte

The Holiday Oceanview Marina is a major attraction of Samal Island in Davao del Norte Province, one that welcomes Filipino and foreign yachtsmen alike to moor within its premises. The space is quite roomy, in fact, with 56 berths that can fit vessels up to 15 meters in length. The club also has a boat ramp that can accommodate boats up to 18 meters in length. The well-guarded and weather-safe marina is a gateway to some of Mindanao’s finest attractions, such as the Pearl Farm, Hagimit Falls, and Giant Clam Sanctuary.  

There’s no better way to discover the Philippines from end to end than getting onboard a seaworthy vessel and going on a long cruise, with stops in some of the most beautiful places in the country. Find a safe harbor in any of these major clubs and marinas, and participate in the renaissance of sailing in the Philippines.

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Manhattan condo owner sues a NY Burger King for $15 mil, accusing the franchise of allowing an 'open air drug bazaar'

• A NYC resident and condo owner has filed a $15 million lawsuit against Burger King. 
• The lawsuit alleges that a Manhattan Burger King location has allowed "rampant drug dealing."
• Manhattan's Fulton Street has been turned into an "open air drug bazaar," the lawsuit says. 

This New Yorker has multimillion dollar beef with Burger King .

New York City resident and condo owner, Kevin Kaufman, is suing the fast food giant for $15 million in damages, alleging that a Manhattan Burger King has allowed "rampant drug dealing" in and around the franchise, resulting in a "neighborhood nightmare."

Kaufman's lawsuit, filed earlier this month in New York State Supreme Court, accuses the franchise of allowing "professional drug dealers" to operate in broad daylight in front of and inside the Burger King located at 106 Fulton Street in Manhattan's Financial District. Kaufman calls it "impossible" for the burger chain to be "unaware" of the "dangerous" situation.

A Burger King spokesperson told Business Insider that they are addressing the situation.

"While we do not comment on active litigation, we are in touch with the Franchisee of this location to determine the best course of action to address this situation with the support of local law enforcement," a spokesperson said Tuesday.

Business Insider could not immediately reach the owner of the Burger King franchise for comment. But the owner, Lalmir Sultanzada, told the New York Post that he's also struggling with the problem.

"They're hanging around, they throw everything inside the stores. A couple of times they hit one of my managers," Sultanzada told the news outlet, explaining that he's not the one "selling drugs."

"It's not me. Go talk with the government, talk with the police department, talk with the mayor, talk with the governor," he said. "They have to find a solution for those bums, not me."

According to Burger King's company website , all potential franchise owners are required to have a total net worth of at least $1 million and at least $500,000 in liquid assets. Opening a franchise with Burger King currently costs $50,000 up front, and owners accrue other monthly or annual charges that include royalties, advertising, and building improvements, the website says.

'Open air drug bazaar'

The lawsuit says that the defendants — Burger King Holdings Inc. and the Burger King restaurant — have helped transform Fulton Street into an "open air drug bazaar" with dealers using the franchise as a "base of operation."

"The operation of the drug dealers at this Burger King attracts drug addicts, drunks, and emotionally disturbed people who have been terrorizing the neighborhood for months," the lawsuit says, alleging the "quality of life that is crucial for a neighborhood's well being has been jeopardized, profoundly harmed, and destroyed by the nature of this illegal activity."

The lawsuit says that Fulton Street residents are "afraid" to leave their apartments and the value of condos on the block "has plummeted as a direct result of Defendants' outrageous and unethical tolerance of drug activity."

"The dangerous, illegal, and outrageous activity" of the defendants "has caused and is causing irreparable harm" to Kaufman, who lives just steps away from burger joint and is the vice chairman of a local nonprofit called the Fulton Street Coalition, the lawsuit says.

NYPD says its 'aware' of the concerns at the Burger King

Last October, a New York Police Department captain met with Burger King reps about the drug activity, according to the lawsuit, which says, "Fulton Street is now a neighborhood in crisis."

An NYPD spokesperson told BI that the department's 1st Precinct "is aware of the community's concerns at 106 Fulton Street."

"The NYPD deploys our officers where crime is reported – in response to community complaints. The stretch of Fulton Street from Nassau Street to William Street is a constant focus" for the 1st Precinct, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson noted that since last year "there have been over 600 directed patrols and community visits by 1st Precinct Officers, including the Commanding Officer, and we will continue to address all conditions as the community expects we should."

A total of 143,911 calls have been made to the address 106 Fulton Street since January 1, 2023, according to the NYPD. That figure includes the entire building that the Burger King is located in, as well as in front and in back of the location.

Meanwhile, Kaufman's lawsuit claims that he is "entitled to a preliminary injunction to stop Defendants from terrorizing his neighborhood and turning Fulton Street into an open air drug bazaar."

The lawsuit, which seeks a jury trial, also accuses the defendants of "engaging in a private nuisance by tolerating rampant drug dealing" at the Burger King location.

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Is the Britton District on track to be Oklahoma City's next Plaza or Paseo?

On any given weekday, walking through the Paseo or Plaza districts in Oklahoma City can inspire a love for the city and its growth over the last three decades. Weekends bring even larger crowds as people flock to the districts to enjoy food, art, fun and more.

Now, business owners, restaurateurs and entrepreneurs have set their sights on turning another historic Oklahoma City neighborhood into the next big entertainment district.

Where is the Britton District located?

The Britton District, sometimes called Old Town Britton, is an area of about three square miles bound on the north by Hefner Road, south by Wilshire Boulevard, east by Broadway and west by Western Avenue.

Originally established as its own town after the Land Run, during its height, downtown Britton, was home to two theaters, an appliance store, bakery, grocery, multiple gas stations, hardware store, a drug store and soda fountain, and even had its own newspaper.

The town fell on hard times after World War II, and as budget woes caused infrastructure issues to begin, residents voted to be annexed by Oklahoma City in 1950. Infrastructure issues continued until as recently as two years ago, when driving down Britton Road between Western Avenue and Classen Boulevard could inspire cringing at the perceived risk for potential damage to your car.

How did Britton District revitalization begin?

Local businesses began investing in the Britton District, with a Variety Care community health center opening in 2018 and steam really picking up in 2019. Renovations of The Owl Court and Ritz Theater led the way, followed by additions of businesses like Hideout Art. Zero Tolerance Coffee came on later that year.

And then the pandemic hit.

Hope for the future, despite hard times

Even in the midst of the pandemic, slow growth continued in the Britton District as restaurateurs like Jonathon Stranger began buildouts.

"I've always liked kind of rebirthing places and neighborhoods and creating in this kind of cool, small, just local culture. Nothing big and crazy, but the thing that I like about Britton District so much is that it's really difficult for anybody — besides like buying all the buildings and tearing them down — to change it," Stranger said.

"Britton District is one of the very, very few areas of Oklahoma City that the majority of ownership of the real estate wants it to be what it is. They want it to be this unique place. It's not these guys looking to try to tear everything down and only care about ROI. They care about what they're doing for the neighborhood, about bringing it back. They live nearby, and that all matters."

Britton also has more recently added a brewery, MadHopper Brewing, in the former Britton Theater, where you can order food from nearby restaurants while enjoying a brew, and Woodworks Distilling Co. in the former Ritz Theater, where guests can sample small-batch craft spirits.

Stranger's El Coyote New Mexican Grill & Cantina is now in its second year of business, and he announced plans to move his Italian restaurant to Britton, as well, when he decided to adjust the concept. He hopes to open Osteria Italian-American Diner in early summer.

More: This Nichols Hills restaurant will move to Britton District, rebrand in 2024

"If your goal is to bring someone like me or another hospitality operator in there to increase traffic and increase rents and then eventually try to push us out to bring in bigger rents, like you're seeing in Midtown, I'm not interested in that because you're not creating any sense of neighborhood, a sense of place or a sense of culture, even if it's even on two blocks of streets, and everyone involved with Britton District really wants that to be the case," Stranger said. "There's a nostalgic effect to the Britton District and Route 66 and all that stuff in Oklahoma, and we just want to bring that back."

Today the roads recently have been repaved as part of the city's 2017 Better Streets Safer City bond package. The area also is scheduled to receive bike lanes, new sidewalks and more, thanks to the millions of dollars in taxpayer investments.

That bond package, along with the overall growth of the area, are part of what gave Stranger the confidence to say yes to El Coyote and to moving Osteria.

The same is true of Rachel Cope's opening of a second Burger Punk location with her brand 84 Hospitality on Britton last year.

"We've lived through this before. We lived through the Plaza's revitalization once or twice when the city did the same thing with sidewalks and parking and all those things over the past 10 years. The Paseo is going through it right now, and the city is really good at communicating those things," Cope said. "When they are happening, we know they are for the greater good and they're for the longevity of those areas and ultimately they benefit us."

More: Updates are coming to Paseo. See the changes, and how they'll preserve the quirky vibe

For Cope, community is an unintentional, but beautiful, common denominator of the areas she's ended up placing her restaurants.

"Most of our stores are in a district somewhere. They're in places where we can collaborate with our other retail vendors and experience-driven places," she said. "I love that tenant mix. It's what makes a district successful. And for us, I'm like a rising tide lifts all ships type person, too, and so I want them to succeed. I don't want to see turnover in the district. It doesn't look good when we see a lot of that sometimes, and also I want people to win."

What else is growing in the Britton District?

But it's not just business owners investing in Britton District and hoping to see the community flourish. Local students are involved, too.

Carlie Little, whose father owns Paul Little Construction, saw a need in the area and inspired by interactions with the unhoused and those battling hunger, decided to create something that could belong to everyone in the community from the unused flower beds at her father's company property.

Little decided to create a community garden, figuring that with 1 in 7 people and 1 in 5 children in Oklahoma suffering from food insecurity and the Britton District considered a food desert by many, it could be of use.

"We're trying to make an impact with our garden for those in need," Little said. "What and how much we eat makes an extreme impact on everything we do."

With everything that is happening in the district, there's also been the addition of public art through murals, including those painted at the inaugural Sunny Dayz Mural Festival. Plus, recent changes to the city's sign code to relax requirements for permitting for public art opens the doors for even more art.

More: Sunny Dayz Mural festival in Oklahoma City aims to empower women and non binary artists artists

Business owners are hopeful that the slow, steady growth is a sign of something lasting being built, and that provides extra motivation and excitement beyond just the day to day of running a business.

"Don't get me wrong, we love serving customers every day, but there's always something else extra kind of keeping you motivated to make it better, and to push forward, and to tighten yourself up so that as more people show up and the place gets prettier, that you're keeping on par with the neighborhood," Stranger said. "I think in the coming years, this area's going to be really, really cool."

Contributing: Steve Lackmeyer, The Oklahoman