Investors Sue Las Vegas Restaurant Owners Who Used Funds to Fuel Luxury Lifestyle

The owners of Toca Madera, a steakhouse located on the Las Vegas Strip, are being sued by their investors for allegedly mismanaging and misusing funds for personal extravagances.

Several claims are listed in the lawsuit, such as private securities fraud, aiding and abetting, and a breach of fiduciary duty, alongside which a RICO charge has been filed.

The defendants named in the lawsuit are Mahdiar Karamooz, Tosh Berman, and Michael Tanha. In the lawsuit, it is said that the defendants “intentionally and systematically defrauded” investors through multiple complex schemes.

Allegedly, the men also took funds from other restaurants they owned; they would leave the establishments to cover their own operating costs, which would also be a loss for investors.

These restaurants are located in Los Angeles, Arizona, and Florida.

It is also alleged that Karamooz had sent investors tampered financial reports to cover up the exceedingly outrageous spending made by Berman and Tanha.

The Big List of Purchases

In a post on X, Las Vegas Locally has shared the list of personal purchases made by the group, such as multiple engagement rings.

According to the lawsuit, Berman and Tanha had used the money on acquiring multiple properties, such as a ranch in Aspen, which they spent $100,000 furnishing, as well as a $5 million house in Miami. In addition, they had also been expending half the cost of a $25,000 rental on Miami’s coast.

They allegedly also bought several sports cars, such as a Ferrari and a Maybach SUV, alongside the vehicle,s several hundred thousand dollars were also spent on a luxury wakeboard boat.

Plane tickets are also among the items that had been obtained through the misused funds, as OnlyFans models would be flown in to attend restaurant openings or the two would travel to different continents, such as Europe, Australia, and different countries like Dubai.

Pocketing Cash from Deals

Additional claims by the investors suggest the men had embezzled money from several different deals.

One of the companies they worked with is InDeal, they pay establishments to promote their discounts to customers.

The men were paid $3 million for the deal, which they kept and used investor funds to cover the differences from the discounts.

In another instance, when renting out the Toca Madera during two Super Bowls, they supposedly lied to investors about the amount of money they had received and kept the difference.