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The owner of a restaurant that used to have a location on the Upper West Side has been indicted on charges that he withheld thousands of dollars in pay from his employees, then ignored their pleas for the money.
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Patrick Griffin, 71, the owner of Au Jus, is accused of stealing at least $8,000 in wages from five workers, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday. He faces one count of third-degree grand larceny by wage theft and one count of first-degree scheme to defraud, both felonies, plus two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay wages under state labor law.Au Jus, an Oklahoma-style barbecue restaurant, had three Manhattan locations, including one at 2621 Broadway at the corner of 99th Street. The other two were at 4232 Broadway and 1569 Lexington Avenue. None of them are still operating. When we covered the UWS opening in 2020, we reported that Griffin, a native Oklahoman who moved to New York at 16 to attend Columbia, had started the restaurant with native New Yorker Philip Bozzo.
Prosecutors say that starting in January 2025, Griffin repeatedly held back days or even weeks of pay from minimum-wage workers who prepped food, washed dishes and made deliveries. When workers complained, he allegedly promised to pay them but didn’t. As they fell behind on their own bills, they were forced to find other jobs, and Griffin replaced them and repeated the pattern with new hires, according to the DA’s office.
Some former employees kept texting Griffin after they left to ask for their money. He often ignored those messages, including while he was vacationing in Europe, and in at least one case blocked a worker’s number, prosecutors said.
The DA’s office also says Griffin set new conditions before he’d pay up. He allegedly told one former employee he wouldn’t get his wages unless he and his coworkers came back to work, then kept withholding the money after he returned. In another instance, Griffin allegedly demanded that a worker sign a document falsely stating he didn’t have government-issued ID, and withheld his pay when he refused. Even workers who met Griffin’s conditions still weren’t paid, according to prosecutors.
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The case eventually reached the DA’s Worker Protection Unit hotline. More than a year after the work was done, the five workers are still owed more than $8,000, prosecutors said. The New York State Department of Labor assisted in the investigation.“An honest day’s work deserves an honest day’s pay,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement, adding that the investigation is ongoing. His office is asking anyone whose wages were stolen to call or message its helpline at (646) 712-0298, regardless of immigration status.
The charges are allegations, and Griffin is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
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