Business & Tech

Woes Deepen for Troubled Watertown Pizzeria [POLL]

Upper Crust executives and founder engaged in bitter dispute.

Upper Crust’s woes have reached new heights with court filings showing its co-owners claiming each other has used company money for personal gain, according to Boston.com.

The details on the split are revealed in legal documents filed by co-owners Joshua Huggard and Brendan Higgins as well as co-founder Jordan Tobins, according to Boston.com. The company is already under federal investigation for labor violations.  

Upper Crust has locations in , Waltham, Beacon Hill, Brookline, Lexington, South End, Wellesley and West Roxbury, according to its website. 

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As a result of the dispute, Tobins has been placed on administrative leave, Boston.com reports, and claimed the co-owners have illegally taken control of the firm. Tobin’s denies the claims.

For additional details, see the Boston.com story.

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The co-owners, in the documents filed in April, accused Tobins of using $750,000 of company money for personal use, including purchasing an airplane, as well as for trips to Nantucket and the Cayman Islands, according to Boston.com. He is also accused of paying his wife with company money despite her not being an employee. 

The lawsuit also lists Tobin’s wife, Stefany, for allegedly receiving the payments and the company’s chief financial officer, David Marcus, for listing Tobin’s personal expenses as business charges, according to Boston.com.

The bitter dispute is the latest chapter in the company’s recent woes. Federal authorities are investigating whether the company harbored and exploited illegal immigrant workers, according to Boston.com. Two former workers at the company have filed a lawsuit claiming Upper Crust garnished overtime pay the Department of Justice ordered the firm to pay after a federal wage investigation, according to Boston.com.


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