Mario Batali Stole Servers Tips

[Bloomberg] Batali and team of lawyers were visiting New York federal court in Manhattan, where he was sued and accused of cheating workers of part of their tips for serving wine. He and his associate Joseph Bastianich agreed to pay $5.25 million to settle the class-action lawsuit, according to court papers.

Servers at restaurants including Babbo, Casa Mono and Tarry Lodge sued in 2010 alleging their employers violated the Fair Labor Standards Act -- in part by pocketing gratuities equal to as much as 5 percent of nightly wine sales. 

For his part, Bastianich owns several restaurants, three wineries, is a judge on MasterChef , is a published author, and son of world famous gourmand Lidia Bastianich. 

Unbelievable. Both men are multimillionaires. Why did either man need to "supplement their incomes" at the expense of the people who actually run their restaurants?