Arrested Again: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Busy Chef Con Man Dan Kaufman

Brooklyn Heights Busy Chef manager / con man Dan Kaufman AKA Dan Kay AKA Dan Katze, arrested in Brooklyn in July of 2009 and at least once after that, is back in the news with a profile in Gawker which catches us up with his latest criminal activities.

Only now he's the Montauk Grifter.

Kaufman's activities are credited with driving the Busy Chef on Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights -- along with its sister stores, Blue Pig ice cream shop, and Henry Street's Wine Bar, Oven restaurant and a Court Street Busy Chef -- out of business.

In addition to the $25,000 that Kaufman stole from customers, he also took much more from the business itself, falsifying the books to cover up the losses.

Since the little Brooklyn Heights episode (and apparently while on parole), Kaufman has been, once again, busy: He was arrested on Jan. 26, accused of defrauding Cloud Mob Media, Inc.

Gawker's description of Kaufman: "He is a celebrity chef, an internet entrepreneur, a television producer. He has worked for Apple, Google, AOL, the Rainbow Room. He hangs out with Steve Case, Gordon Ramsey, Tim Armstrong. He's a world-class surfer, a AAA baseball legend, the founder of a seminal punk band . . ."

And ladies: he hangs out on OkCupid.

Read all about it on Gawker.

UPDATE: Even more details about what the busy guy has been up to at the Brooklyn Eagle. 

- Brooklyn's Busy Chef: More Drama, More Crime
- Busy Chef's Alan Young Disbarred
- Brooklyn Heights: Busy Chef Cover Up -- Stop Work Order
- 50 Ex- Busy Chef Restaurant Employees in Brooklyn, Ready to Work
- And Then There Were None: The Wine Bar, Last in Brooklyn's Busy Chef Empire, Closes
- 'Mired in Scandal,' It's All Over for Brooklyn's Busy Chef
- Why the Brooklyn Paper Didn't Write About the Crook at the Busy Chef and What This Means For America
- Arrested Busy Chef Partner Has a History in Boston
- A Busy Brooklyn Chef Now Under Arrest
- Downtown Brooklyn Busy Chef Pretty Busy
- Busy Chef Empire: Frozen Dinners or Homemade Cuisine?
- Busy Chef coming to Court Street

Photo by MK Metz

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