Thread: Feds’ push to seize restaurant a rare one

Feds’ push to seize restaurant a rare one
Illegal workers at heart of French Gourmet case
By Greg Moran, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.


The government is attempting to seize properties of The French Gourmet, open in Pacific Beach since 1979. John Gibbins / Union-Tribune
For more than three decades, The French Gourmet restaurant has been serving high-end cuisine in its 45-seat dining room, catering events across the county, and producing hundreds of wedding cakes annually.

But now the business on Turquoise Avenue in Pacific Beach finds itself the target of federal immigration authorities and prosecutors who want more than just a great Coquille St. Jacques or strawberry bagatelle cake.

In an indictment released last week, the government said it wants the property where the iconic restaurant has done business since 1979.

That move makes the case against The French Gourmet more than a simple immigration enforcement case. Prosecutors could have several reasons for seeking the property, legal experts said. They may want to make a prominent example of the restaurant as they pursue businesses that hire illegal workers. Or perhaps they want to increase the stakes and the pressure to get guilty pleas.

Whatever the reason, such a move is a rare and maybe even unprecedented wrinkle in the federal government’s enforcement program that for the past year has focused on employers who hire illegal workers.

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said she was unaware of any other instances in which a business was seized as the result of a work-site violation criminal case.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office unsealed the indictment charging owner Michel Malécot, the restaurant corporation that he heads and manager and pastry chef Richard Kauffmann with knowingly hiring undocumented workers.

The indictment seeks criminal forfeiture of the two land parcels the business occupies, which records show have an assessed value of more than $1.3 million.

Malécot and Kauffmann pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy, false attestation and harboring illegal immigrants. [b]The government alleges the restaurant for several years had a “pattern and practiceâ€

Woo, hoo. Hope they come to Illinois.

They could own a lot of chicken and beef processing plants then they wouldn't have to wait for political donations.

Local news reported in 2006 on the hundreds of illegal aliens working the backfield at Churchill Downs. All these years later there has been no enforcement. Hey Feds, that's a nice property.