Gordon Ramsay‘s reputation for paying his debts is collapsing like a bad soufflé.
Wineberry America sued the “Hell’s Kitchen” star earlier this week, claiming he owes $40,900 for cases of wine the company delivered from July 2007 to November 2009 to his Midtown restaurant, Gordon Ramsay at the London.
Now, another wine importer, V.O.S. Selections, has filed suit on the same grounds.
“He owes us nearly $38,000,” V.O.S. owner Victor Owen Schwartz tells Page Six of the foul-mouthed chef. “We’ve yet to see a dime.”
Schwartz — who, like Wineberry, also names Ramsay’s equity partner, the Blackstone Group, in the lawsuit — claims that the unpaid wine was delivered to the London between October and mid-November of 2009.
“It was right around the time that Blackstone was transferring the license for the restaurant to another holding company,” Schwartz says.
Adds Schwartz: “It was a sucker punch. We aren’t some giant company. But we figured he had a name and a connection to a hotel, so he would be OK to do business with.”
Calls and e-mails to Gordon’s rep at William Morris Endeavor were not returned.
Ramsay himself is the first to acknowledge that the recession has been tough on his empire. The situation was so bad the KPMG accounting firm advised Ramsay to declare bankruptcy, though he never did. After closing three London restaurants in 2008, he referred to the period as “the worst bollocking ever,” adding, “They [KPMG] told me I was [bleeped].”