reBar Owner Banned From Restaurant Industry, Must Pay Back Couples
It is so rare that the good guys come out on top, but for once, that seems to be the case. According to an order from the Attorney General’s office, not only is Jason Stevens, former owner of popular bar and wedding venue reBar, going to prison for 3 to 10 years, but he’s also being forced to pay restitution to all the couples he fleeced when he suddenly shut down the DUMBO hotspot back in May and has been banned from the restaurant industry for life.
DNAinfo reports that Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Loren Baily-Schiffman handed the order down on June 26. At the time, it only required Stevens to pay $1.1 million to 73 couples that had been identified as reBar victims, but that number has since reached 150 couples and restitution now sits at $1.8 million.
In all. this story has come to a bittersweet end: Stevens will have to pay the money even after he gets out of prison, but sources are saying he’s broke so there’s really no saying when couples’ losses will be recouped. Meanwhile, Stevens heads upstate to serve his sentence on July 21.
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