Sixteen current and former employees of Williamsburg, Brooklyn club Verboten have accused co-owner Jen Schiffer (pictured above right) of sexual harassment and racism. In a story broken by the New York Daily News, the suit alleges that the married Schiffer pressured workers into threesomes, boasted about sleeping with more customers than her husband and freaked out when too many black patrons attended a party. In documents filed in Brooklyn Federal Court the plaintiffs claim she “discusses her sex life — including her favorite sexual positions and sexual encounters with her husband, John Perez, and other women.”
The suit also charges that Schiffer became furious when an employee, Darrin Morda, booked a party attended by black patrons. “What are all these black people doing here? You cannot book a black-people party!” she allegedly yelled in front of customers. “(She said) she had promised the police there wouldn’t be black people at this club, and I put the entire club in jeopardy by doing it,” Morda recalled.
Schiffer has reportedly denied the claims, calling the allegations “ridiculous” and “outlandish.” “This is disgusting. This is not true,” she said. “I’m a woman trying to run a nightclub with her husband. This personal abuse and attack is disgusting.”
The suit comes amid an ongoing dispute with some ex-employees claiming they haven’t been paid, as well as investors. “In return for being dedicated employees, our clients were mistreated, sexually harassed and not even paid for vast stretches of time,” the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Michael Willemin and David Gottlieb, of Wigdor LLP, said in a statement to the Daily News.
Verboten has yet to comment on the lawsuit.