Anatolia Mediterranean & Grill operators accused of underpaying workers

The operators of a West Hempstead restaurant have been charged with underpaying their employees by more than $60,000 during a seven-month period and with failing to contribute required state unemployment insurance payments, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office said.

The prosecution is the first in Nassau County under the amended grand larceny statute that includes “compensation for labor services” in the definition of property, according to the district attorney’s office. That amendment, signed into law Sept. 6, 2023, “strengthens criminal penalties for wage theft,” allowing prosecutors to combine wage underpayments or improper wage payments for a workforce into a single grand larceny charge, a statement from the district attorney's office said.

Authorities said the operators of Anatolia Mediterranean & Grill, Mahmut Unver and the Red Lions Food Corp., were arraigned before Judge Geoffrey Prime in First District Court on Nov. 13, entering pleas of not guilty. Each is charged with second-degree grand larceny, first-degree scheme to defraud, failure to pay wages when due under labor law and willful failure to pay contributions.

Unver was released on his own recognizance

The parties are due back in court on Jan. 6.

A co-defendant, Canturk (John) Yilmaz, was arraigned Nov. 20 on the same charges — and also pleaded not guilty.

Released on his own recognizance, court records show Yilmaz has a return date of Dec. 13.

If convicted, the defendants face 5 to 15 years in prison.

Authorities said that between September 2023 and April 31, nine employees of the restaurant on Hempstead Avenue in West Hempstead, were underpaid — two of them, identified only as a delivery driver and a food preparer, by more than $10,000. Underpayments to the seven other employees ranged from between $1,696 and $9,936, the district attorney’s office said.

Additionally, authorities said records from the New York State Department of Labor’s Unemployment Insurance Division showed that Red Lions Food Corp. failed to make unemployment insurance payments dating back to September 2022.

As of June 21, those missed payments totaled $13,989.11, the district attorney’s office said.

District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly said in a statement, “By allegedly underpaying their restaurant workers by more than $60,000 in the span of seven months, Mahmut Unver and John Yilmaz not only violated the law, but they undermined the dignity and value of those who helped build their business.”

Monday evening, Mitchell Elman, the defense attorney representing Unver, said it was too early in the case to comment.

When reached, Stacy Ellen Albin-Leone, the defense attorney representing Yilmaz, declined to comment.

With Nicholas Grasso 

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”