Entertainment entrepreneur Noel Ashman says a former business partner used his expertise to remake a Lower East Side dive bar into a high-end nightclub then pushed him out before it opened in spring 2012, according to a new lawsuit.
The $30 million lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleges that Amit Zaman, 38, broke off a deal with Ashman a week before the duo’s exclusive nightspot The Elsinore was to open in March 2012.
Zaman then renamed the club “The Bantam,” and allegedly locked Ashman out of the building. Zaman’s attorneys allegeldy told Ashman “the agreement was not enforceable,” according to court papers.
Ashman says he signed a joint venture agreement with Zaman in 2011, entitling him to a $3,500 to $4,500 weekly salary and a cut of the club’s profits in exchange for being “the front man.”
Ashman, 42, claims he plunged almost $70,000 of his own money, design know-how, and hiring expertise into the Stanton Street club.
“The lounge remains unchanged from the way Ashman envisioned and designed it,” the papers state.
The nightlife impresario has had his hands in Manhattan hotspots, including the now-shuttered Plumm and Veruka, since the 1990s.
Zaman’s attorney, David DiPasquale, called “each and every one of Noel Ashman’s claims are completely and totally false and without merit.”
He added that Zaman and his other business partners had settled a previous lawsuit with Ashman in early 2012. “Mr. Ashman, outside of self-promoting himself did nothing,” to launch Batam, DiPasquale claimed.