A celebrity chef arrested last year for allegedly having sex with a boy in a Best Buy parking lot is being sued for $10 million over his relationship with a minor.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court Tuesday, claims that Matthew Tivy, the man behind Café Du Soleil on the Upper West Side, performed anal and oral sex on a 15-year-old in The Bronx in 2014.
Tivy shrugged off the kid’s age, saying, “I messed with guys your age before,” according to the complaint.
Tivy also texted the teen to suggest a future rendezvous in New Jersey after the teen turned 16 because “the age to have sex in New Jersey is 16,” the suit says.
The seedy details of the allegations echo criminal charges brought last October by Manhattan prosecutors, who accused Tivy of meeting a teenager for sex in The Bronx in December 2014. It’s not clear if the two alleged victims are the same person.
Tivy pleaded not guilty in December. His lawyer in the criminal case did not return a request for comment.
The boy’s father said he and his son are in therapy as a result of the “great physical and mental pain” they have suffered.