Jonathan Dienst, Shimon Prokupecz and Joe Valiquette report:
More than two dozen current and former waiters and their associates from some of the city’s top steakhouses have been arrested in an alleged identity theft ring, accused of stealing credit card numbers from wealthy customers, NBC New York has learned.
Several suspects are from top city restaurants like Smith and Wollensky, Capital Grille and Wolfgang Steak, as well as Morton’s in Stamford and the Bicycle Club in New Jersey, sources said.
The alleged scam targeted customers who often paid with American Express Black cards and other high-limit credit cards, according to sources.
Read more on NBC.
Update: District Attorney Vance issued a press release that says, in part, that at least 50 American Express accounts were misused and that the waiters worked at Smith & Wollensky, The Capital Grille, Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, and JoJo, all in Manhattan, as well as Morton’s in Stamford, Connecticut, and The Bicycle Club in New Jersey. The release provides a description of how the criminal enterprise allegedly operated.
Now, talk about reputation harm: will these high-end restaurants experience any loss of business because of this case or revelations? I tend to doubt it, but what do you think?