A former Glu Hospitality investor alleges that he was assaulted when he asked for his money back

A former Glu Hospitality investor has named the now-defunct restaurant group in a new lawsuit alleging that one of the company’s founders refused to return a six-figure investment last year and punched him repeatedly when he asked about it.

Carlton Smith filed a civil lawsuit Friday against Tim Lu — who founded Glu Hospitality in 2021 alongside his now-former business partner Derek Gibbons — seeking the return of a $100,000 investment and at least $50,000 in damages for negligence and assault, among other allegations. Lu was arrested last summer on charges of aggravated and simple assault in connection with the encounter in April 2024 at the Old City location of Almost Home General, which Glu managed. Gibbons, Glu’s chief operating officer, is not named in the lawsuit.

The suit comes days after Lu and Gibbons announced that Glu had shut down for good and had passed off its remaining sit-down restaurants to new ownership. Glu expanded rapidly during the pandemic and was unable to pay employees consistently as liquor licenses lapsed, resulting in investigations by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Pennsylvania State Police.

The company operated six locations of the Bagels & Co. chain and nine vibe-dining spots in Philly: the Blade Runner-themed ramen bar Chika; happy-hour favorite 1225 Raw; the massive Northern Liberties Italian restaurant Figo; Izakaya Fishtown; the Brewerytown Food Hall; two locations of the omakase experience Sushi by Bou; Almost Home General; and The Peabody, a recently opened sports bar on Temple University’s campus.

Chika, 1225 Raw, Figo, and the food hall have closed, while The Peabody and Izakaya Fishtown will remain open as new owners take over. Sunday was the last service for Sushi by Bou, a separately owned Japanese restaurant tucked into the back room of Glu’s Izakaya Fishtown. Michael Sinensky, a partner in the New York-based Sushi by Bou, said he was looking for a new location in Philadelphia. Bagels & Co. was unaffected by the shutdown, Gibbons said, as it has other investors.

» READ MORE: The once-high-flying restaurant group Glu Hospitality has shut down amid wage-theft allegations and lawsuits

Glu also oversaw Vesper, a historic bar and nightclub blocks from Rittenhouse Square on Sydenham Street that Lu began leasing in 2017 alongside an ownership group of nightlife veterans. The bar has been fined several times by the Liquor Control Board over smoking and noise under Glu’s oversight, public records show, driven by neighbors who peppered authorities with petitions and videos of unruly behavior.

In his lawsuit, Smith alleges that he had given Lu $100,000 in early April 2024 to take over Vesper but was never granted access to the space. Lu, he alleges, was fielding “a better deal or more money” from another party interested in taking over the nightclub’s lease. On April 25, Smith went to Almost Home General to discuss the return of the money.

During that encounter, Lu struck Smith “multiple times in the chest and neck area with his fists” while his brother Jason and three men Smith believed to be Almost Home General employees pinned him against the wall, according to the police report corresponding with Lu’s 2024 arrest. A status hearing for his case is listed for March 26 in Common Pleas Court.

“Hand to God, I did not assault him,” Lu told The Inquirer on Friday. “If I assaulted you, you would have six stitches and a broken nose.”

Smith’s recent dealings with Lu have left him with physical, financial, and emotional repercussions, according to the lawsuit filed by Steve Patton of the Center City law firm McMonagle, Perri, McHugh, Mischak & Davis. Smith alleges in the suit to have suffered injuries to his neck and back, lost wages, and the humiliation of a business deal gone south.

Smith borrowed $100,000 from an undisclosed source to pay Lu for the rights to Vesper in 2024, the lawsuit states. “My client took certain actions to get the $100,000 together relying on the promises that Mr. Lu made,” Patton said in an interview. “It took a lot from his other businesses, and it took a lot of time and energy.”

Smith’s interest in Vesper dates back to 2022, Lu said, when Smith and a business partner approached him to buy Glu in its entirety. The three signed a contract in June 2022, Lu said, but he never received funds to begin the partnership. (Patton, Smith’s lawyer, said he could not confirm whether his client and Lu had done business before 2024, stating only that the two knew each other. Smith could not be reached for comment.)

» READ MORE: https://www.inquirer.com/food/glu-hospitality-figo-izakaya-chika-liquor-licenses-20250204.html

Smith attempted to buy Vesper again in April 2024 for $500,000, Lu said. Smith wired Lu a $100,000 deposit on April 2, the lawsuit states, in exchange for full access to Vesper.

Lu never gave Smith the key codes to enter Vesper, the lawsuit alleges, instead lending the space to another entity for a special Wrestlemania-themed brunch from April 6 to April 7. The Monday after, Lu told Smith he would return the money after receiving a better offer from another, undisclosed investor.

Lu’s wire transfer failed and Lu refused to produce a check, the lawsuit states. Smith then came to collect two weeks later, on April 24.

To hear Lu tell it, Smith was never seriously interested in being the club’s owner.

“I was trying to convince him to fulfill what he had agreed upon,” when Smith crashed Lu’s lunch at Almost Home General last April, Lu said, alleging that Smith had never procured insurance to run Vesper. “I just kept saying, ‘Dude, you haven’t done what you need to do to take it over.’”

» READ MORE: From 2022: GLU Hospitality can’t stop, won’t stop opening new restaurants

That conversation spiraled out of control when Smith and Lu got up from their seats to stand chest to chest, according to video footage of the moments leading up to the altercation provided to The Inquirer by Lu.

“We’re just sitting there and the next thing you know, they’re dropping F-bombs and choking each other out,” said Nihad Hajdarhodzic, a former chef at Almost Home General, who was present during the encounter. “My first instinct was to just get [Smith] out of there because I didn’t want him to threaten staff. I have no idea if he was a bad guy or not.”

Vesper — not to be confused with the elite rowing club of the same name — was founded in 1901 by a crew of Mummers who wanted a place to drink on Sundays, then illegal because of the city’s so-called blue laws. By the early 1940s, when Vesper opened in its two-story building, it had become a private dining club and power broker hangout whose clientele included mob boss Angelo Bruno, Eagles owner Leonard Tose, and Frank Rizzo, the colorful police commissioner and eventual mayor.

Vesper closed in 2013, but the name was resurrected in 2015 when the building reopened as a Prohibition-style speakeasy and live-music venue. In 2017, it was revamped as a sports bar and nightclub under a new ownership group of nightlife veterans, including Lu, who by then had opened Monarch Swim Club and Crabby’s Cafe & Sports Bar in Northern Liberties.

» READ MORE: Chika, Glu Hospitality’s ‘Blade Runner’-themed ramen bar, has closed

Vesper’s issues with neighbors over the years have threatened the renewal of its liquor license, which expired last October. After a hearing last month before an administrative law judge, a new operator, David Joseph, who owns Spades nightclub in West Philadelphia, was granted temporary authority to operate the venue as Prestige by Vesper. The case has not yet been presented to the Liquor Control Board for a decision, a PLCB spokesperson said.

Glu has had other issues with liquor licenses. Earlier this year, The Inquirer found that four of Glu’s other establishments had been serving alcohol with improper or expired licenses, required by the PLCB to buy and sell wine and spirits. The licenses expired because Glu had not been current with its taxes.

A state police spokesperson told The Inquirer that officers had visited Glu’s Izakaya Fishtown in early February after learning that the restaurant had been serving alcohol since its license expired on Oct. 31, 2023. Glu also shuttered Chika, near Rittenhouse Square, just weeks after The Inquirer reported it had been operating with an expired liquor license since Oct. 31, 2024. Figo and Almost Home General had been serving alcohol through off-premises catering permits, meant for off-site events, since their respective openings in October 2021 and May 2024.

Other Glu investors have also alleged impropriety. In a lawsuit filed in 2023, Kevin Webster said he invested $100,000 and Pasquale Mascaro Jr. said he invested $50,000, both in 2020. Both men alleged that they were shut out of Glu’s finances. The suit is pending in Common Pleas Court. Attorney William Morrin, who represents Glu, denied the allegations and said Glu had filed counterclaims against Webster and Mascaro.

The restaurant group is also the subject of a Pennsylvania Department of Labor Investigation, Lu and Gibbons have acknowledged. At least six former Glu employees have filed claims with the state over back wages, according to a lawyer with Community Legal Services who helped some of the individuals prepare their claims.

The converging lawsuits and investigations feel “like a shark feeding frenzy,” Lu said.

Additional reporting by Abraham Gutman.