The chef who drove a Maserati received unemployment benefits while he was working

Two years after a first visit, return to the Castres court for the former head chef of the Bibliotéca, in Saint-Pierre-de-Trivisy. Tuesday afternoon, it was not a question of weapons, nor of rhino horn as in 2022, but of fraud for having received unemployment benefits from January 2019 to March 2021 while he was working. On the other hand, the Maserati was still at the heart of the debates. And this time, he was not alone at the helm: the 53-year-old Albigensian was accompanied by his wife, 56, former manager of the Monts de Lacaune establishment.

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Tarn: a rhino horn, money and weapons discovered in the trunk of a Maserati

Like two years before, everything began with a preliminary investigation after the astonishing discovery of a bailiff in the Tarnais sports car: 27,140 euros in cash, a rhino horn and two weapons. This time it is the money that will interest the justice system after having sentenced him to 6 months in prison, suspended on the other aspects of the case. Between 2018 and 2021, rather than paying his taxes like everyone else, the man preferred to withdraw money from the restaurant to increase his cash nest egg. He is still repaying his debts to the State today (€4,000 remaining).

That's not all: while he was cooking dishes every day for clients of the Bibliotéca, the cook with an exemplary professional career declared himself unemployed with France Travail for almost two and a half years. This recipe, with a few false clicks as ingredients, allowed him to recover €41,827. “I recognize that I made mistakes,” he slips at the bar without explaining further. So much embezzlement while the restaurant generated €278,502 in turnover under the couple's management.

“I accept my faults, I continue to work to pay what I owe”

“We knew that the money appeared somewhere. For us, it was not fraud, our goal was not to hide something,” he defended himself. For her part, his wife maintained that she knew nothing of her husband's shenanigans. “I discovered it later, during confinement. Now, we do everything well,” she adds.

The couple now works in a hotel-restaurant in Auvergne, he in the kitchen and she in the dining room. The public prosecutor represented by Freddy Marta requested 6 months suspended prison sentence for him and 2 months suspended prison sentence for her. The court will deliver its decision on December 17. In an attempt to reduce the sentence, the defense lawyer pointed out the absence of material evidence, particularly for the aspect of money laundering, another charge against the couple. And the boss finished: “I take responsibility for my faults, I continue to work to pay what I owe.”