Lawsuits

Sasha Muniak’s Wife Responds to Mangia Charges (Updated: Muniak Chimes In)

We have yet to hear back from Mangia about a lawsuit alleging that managers deprived an employee of work for anti-Semitic reasons, but owner Sasha Muniak’s wife, Abbe Diaz, addressed the issue in the Grub Street comments, reprinting what she said was a comment from Mangia’s lawyer, Roger Juan Maldonado: “There is no merit to the case. Wiercinski, represented by counsel, agreed to withdraw his claims with prejudice (to avoid potential prosecution for perjury). This means he cannot re-file the claims.” (We still have not heard back from attorney Maldonado directly.) Indeed, Wiercinski, according to a Post item, filed papers with the N.Y. Division of Human Rights in May, but discontinued his case during a hearing. A request to reopen the case was not granted, and last month Wiercinski filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Abbe Diaz is not taking this latest development sitting down. On her PX This blog today, a PX This forum member, “Dick Johnson,” is calling Wiercinski the “‘delivery boy’ grifter.”

The anonymous poster calls Wiercisnki’s lawsuit a case of “attempted multi-million dollar extortion,” and accuses him of “exploiting the Jewish plight, and deceitfully claiming he was the victim of racism and racial slurs.” There are also accusations, based on “some documents obtained from the Mangia corporate offices,” that Wiercisnki used two different identities during the course of his employ at Mangia, and fabricated a lawsuit between one identity and the other in order to defraud the social-security administration. Finally, there’s the accusation of a bribe: “Prior to his first (May 2009) court appearance to present his fraudulent case to the State Commission, Wiercinski/Jamroz approached a representative of Mangia outside the courtroom doors and proposed, ‘Just give me $300,000.00 and we’ll call it all off. Otherwise, we go in.’”

Strange that this is all being played out on Internet message boards. We’ll continue to await word from the lawyers and Mangia offices.

Update: Sasha Muniak has now written to us. He calls the lawsuit “fallacious” and reiterates the above statement from attorney Maldonado. Regarding the earlier hearing, Muniak writes, “Adam Wiercinski initially and immediately withdrew all claims when asked by the court if he intended to ‘continue perjuring [him]self.’ There is no lawsuit.”

Earlier Mangia Worker Sues After Ten Years of Alleged Anti-Semitism

Sasha Muniak’s Wife Responds to Mangia Charges (Updated: Muniak Chimes In)