Prominent restaurateur Jason Mclaren Jones is embroiled in fresh conflict over one his eateries, with the famous bon vivant accused of financial impropriety, misuse of company assets and tax evasion by his business partners in the Collins Street eatery Entrecote.
Mr Jones' lawyer agreed to defer settlement on the sale of the CBD restaurant at a court hearing on August 1, after disgruntled business partners, Donato Ravida and Joseph Alesci, launched civil action in the County Court to halt the sale.
![Brahman Perera and Jason M Jones at their wedding.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170814172147im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/o/k/u/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxok9m.png/1502674923567.jpg)
Mr Jones has strenuously denied the allegations, but has a history of acrimonious bust-ups with business associates and staff.
Mr Ravida, who went into partnership with Mr Jones in 2013, claimed in an affidavit that he privately owned about $700,000 worth of furniture and commercial kitchenware that was recently included in the sale of Entrecote by Mr Jones.
In other legal correspondence, Mr Jones is accused of drawing almost $50,000 in management fees from the upmarket French restaurant, which never turned a profit and failed to pay almost $360,000 in taxes.
Fairfax Media has also been told that a Mercedes SLK convertible was leased in the name of Alphred Place Melb Pty Limited that was used by Mr Jones' domestic partner and not the business.
Financial records show a "chattel mortgage liability" with Mercedes Benz Finance for $41,437 in 2014/15.
According to legal documents, Mr Jones' younger brother Jake Daniel Johnson was appointed director of Alphred Place Melb Pty Limited in 2015, without the consent of Mr Ravida or Mr Alesci.
![Jason M Jones and his partner Brahman Perera at Jones' 40th birthday party.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170814172147im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/7/y/r/a/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxok9m.png/1502674923567.jpg)
Mr Jones branded the allegations in Mr Ravida's affidavit as "scandalous and unsubstantiated".
"I am concerned that these allegations have been made to harm my name and reputation and I will be responding to each and every allegation in due course ... I take these allegations very seriously and have instructed my lawyers to deal with them," Mr Jones told Fairfax Media.
![Jason M Jones (left) and his former business partner Adam North before their acrimonious split.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170814172147im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/8/2/5/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxok9m.png/1502674923567.jpg)
In recent years, Mr Jones, whose stable of popular Melbourne restaurants includes Snow Pony, The Stables of Como, Prix Fixe, Moor Please and Porgie & Mr Jones, has become entangled in legal wrangles with angry business partners.
In May last year, Mr Jones paid about $500,000 to settle a bitter dispute with two former shareholders in Entrecote South Yarra, following months of infighting over the operation and accounting practices at the successful restaurant opposite the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Mr Jones was accused in court documents of "misappropriating" tens of thousands of dollars in cash from the restaurant, paying staff under the table, and using company resources to supply his other restaurants – as well as to stage his 40th birthday celebrations.
The lawsuit included claims of a $1 million "discrepancy" in the takings recorded in Entrecote's official financial reports since it opened in January 2015 and the existence of a system to employ staff off-the-books to reduce costs and avoid taxes.
"There was in the vicinity of $10,000 cash paid to employees each week in around March 2016 when I ceased employment," former manager Marty McCaig said in an affidavit.
"I would also take out approximately $10,000 for Jason that I'd wrap up; anything remaining went to the bank. On a regular basis I would get cash out of the safe with JMJ written on the outside and give it to Jones ... he said that it was for the shareholders' dividends," Mr McCaig said.
The allegations were – and still are – strenuously denied by Mr Jones, who claimed the lawsuit was retribution for a soured business relationship with two of his investors, who were also major suppliers.
Adam North and David Maconochie, who also run cattle grazier Hopkins River Beef – were the former meat supplier for Entrecote South Yarra.
In March 2015, Hepburn Springs restaurant Moor Please run by Mr Jones closed suddenly after opening its doors only months earlier. The company went into external administration owing $42,000 to the tax office.
A silent partner in the business, who asked to have his name withheld, said a number of fixtures, including furniture, a $12,000 meat slicer and a sound system, were removed from the premises without permission. They were returned later when the man threatened legal action against Mr Jones.
The investor is understood to have lost almost $300,000 on the venture, while several suppliers were never paid.
In 2012, an investor in Porgie & Mr Jones sued Mr Jones to get access to the company's financial records amid concerns about the restaurant's operations.