'Iron Chef' Masaharu Morimoto Sued By Business Partner

Masaharu Morimoto, best known as a longtime fixture in both the Japanese and U.S. iterations of the Iron Chef series, is under fire in a lawsuit filed by his former business partner, who alleges that Morimoto cheated him out of his cut from opening his Las Vegas restaurant, Morimoto, located at the MGM Grand Las Vegas.

The lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court, states that well-known tax evader Rowen Seibel, who has also been linked to Gordon Ramsay, helped the Iron Chef tap into the "tight-knit business community" in Las Vegas, New York Daily News reported. According to the lawsuit, a deal was struck guaranteeing that an "introduction fee" would be paid, but the deal hasn't been honored.

The restaurant opened in October 2016, but two months earlier, Seibel was sent to jail for a tax scam involving one million dollars he hid in Swiss banks and a Panamanian shell company. The current lawsuit states that Seibel's previous conviction is the reason for a lack of payment to the LLC, called Rogun.

According to the suit, Morimoto owes Rogun 20 percent of the first million made by the restaurant and 25 percent of profits made above one million dollars each year plus interest.

A representative for Morimoto has yet to respond to the lawsuit.

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