Julian Niccolini, Co-Owner of the Four Seasons, Forced to Resign Following Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Julian Niccolini, the co-owner of Manhattan’s Four Seasons restaurant, was forced to resign Monday in light of sexual-misconduct allegations that go as far back as three decades, The New York Times reports. Alex von Bidder—who has co-owned and operated the upscale Park Avenue restaurant with Niccolini since the mid-1990s—told his business partner to resign, according to a statement provided to the Times. “It had been hoped that Mr. Niccolini would fulfill the agreement he made in 2016 to seek help and change his behavior during the Four Seasons’ two-year hiatus while the new restaurant was under construction,” the statement read. The restaurant had recently reopened after moving from its original home in the Seagram Building to a smaller space on the other side of Park Avenue. “In the short period of time since the restaurant had reopened, it had become clear that he had not honored that commitment,” the statement said. The allegations go as far back as 1991, when one of the restaurant’s waitresses sued the Four Seasons, alleging that Niccolini had repeatedly rubbed up against her and called her a “slut,” the Times reports.