Two Cranston restaurants close amid business dispute, fraud allegations

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[00:00:00]Fraud allegations force a couple of well-known Cranston businesses to go dark.

[00:00:04]>> This situation has a lot of people in town talking and we see Tens Nicole Mater is digging through the court documents. It's new at 6.

[00:00:12]Closed for business, Campanella's Restaurant and Enoteca Italiana in Cranston are no longer serving customers as their owner faces fraud allegations.

[00:00:20]A court-appointed receiver has now taken control of the businesses while litigation plays out in court.

[00:00:25]>> Is it your intention to have those open in the near future or will you keep them closed until you sell them?

[00:00:32]I think it's much more likely that I would keep them closed until I sell them. We spoke to the owner, Andrew Lofredo, on the phone Friday. Lofredo denies all the allegations. This all stems from a family court case where my family business dragged into my work business and, you know, all of the families who are affected by this, all of the employees who worked for us, vendors we did business with, you know, they're paying the consequence to it.

[00:00:57]>> Is it accurate then to say that these court proceedings are at least part of the reason why the two restaurants have closed? Absolutely. A court-appointed examiner claims to have found ownership disputes, inconsistent operating agreements, and evidence of poor financial controls, which the court said warranted receivership for Lofredo's businesses. After reviewing allegations of unpaid taxes, bounced employee checks, unpaid vendors, and operating with insufficient funds, a judge determined there was serious risk to the businesses. The job of receivers to try to maximize the value of the assets. So, in doing that, I'll try to find buyers of for these assets and and sell them.

[00:01:33]Two other restaurants under receivership are still operating. The immediate pressing issues are to try to stabilize, make sure we can keep operating the businesses that are operating, keep people employed, and find buyers for the business. In Cranston, Nicole Mater, NBC 10 News.