Jennifer Esposito Speaks About Celiac, Part 1
Actress Jennifer Espositos gluten-free empire is crumbling, her business partners allege.
The former Blue Bloods star and ex-wife of Bradley Cooper is embroiled in a nasty food fight with her investors including her new husband who have filed a $43 million lawsuit against her. Esposito agreed to a restraining order against bad-mouthing them, The Post has learned.
While Espositos Jennifers Way bakery in the East Village remains open, online ordering of gluten-free bagels, cookies and rolls has stalled after its site was hijacked and redirected to the actresss personal blog, the lawsuit alleges.
Esposito has instilled and promoted a groundless and downright false sense of fear that the very same products with the same recipes, coming from the same facility, that she once stood behind, are now unsafe to consume, legal papers charge.
For her part, Esposito contends she was pushed out of her own company.
The 43-year-old actress opened Jennifers Way bakery on East 10th Street in 2012 after a diagnosis of celiac disease, an intolerance for wheat and other products with gluten.
The outspoken Esposito, who was raised on Staten Island, blasted CBS in 2012 after she was cut from Blue Bloods. Esposito said she needed a limited schedule because of her illness and CBS said it had to put her Jackie Curtola character on an indefinite leave.
Esposito credited her husband, British model Louis Dowler, for his financial and emotional support in the bakery business. They were married in November 2014.
Esposito teamed up with investors Lawrence Wenner and David Drake in 2014 to expand the business with a commercial plant in Queens to bake and ship orders. The retail shop sold products made on site.
Jennifer Esposito pictured outside her bakeryPhoto: Anne WermielWenner and Drake sank $250,000 each into the business and then loaned $1 million to the enterprise, court papers say.
Esposito was supposed to transfer ownership of the East Village bakery to the newly formed company, Jennifers Way Inc., which she failed to do, court papers allege.
The investors contend Esposito was difficult to work with, in one instance nixing the use of a corn-based ingredient because she personally was allergic to corn, and not because it posed any sort of danger to those suffering from celiac disease.
The online business struggled financially and Wenner and Drake allege they could not take out a needed loan because Esposito refused to cooperate.
The battle turned bitter last month when Esposito warned her Facebook followers that the Jennifers Way commercial operation was NOT under my control. Therefore anything from there I do NOT stand behind. One fan wrote that she immediately tossed $50 worth of muffins and bagels.
Both sides are due in court in Suffolk County March 16.
There will be more legal action for Esposito, who said in court papers that she filed for divorce from Dowler. Among the grounds for divorce is cruel and inhuman treatment.
Like he did during the short-lived marriage to me, Dowler now seems to be aligning himself with individuals he thinks could best earn him money, she wrote in an affidavit.
The accusations come only months after the couple purchased a $1.1 million home in East Hampton late last year.
Espositos lawyer called the case baseless and said the actress was misled by her investors, and has done nothing wrong to warrant a lawsuit.
Source: http://nypost.com/2016/03/13/actress-jennifer-espositos-bakery-ensnared-in-43m-suit/
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