reBar Owner Jason Stevens on the Lam?

Have you seen this man? EaterNY reports that reBar owner Jason Stevens has disappeared since the sudden shuttering of his bar/restaurant/movie theater last Friday.

Several employees claim that the restaurateur ran into trouble with the IRS recently, and a former chef believes that Stevens made off with 27K in cash and 150K in wedding deposits from the Dumbo restaurant and event space. One anonymous reBar worker tells Gothamist: “The state is after him and he is facing a minimum of 2.5 years in prison for $2.5 million dollars in unpaid taxes…The IRS came last year, then this past Wednesday he had an order to pay by Brooklyn Supreme Court but couldn’t get the money.”

Interestingly, the New York Times published an article on reBar and Stevens in 2010:

[Stevens] opened reBar in 2006 after leaving his job as a vice president specializing in mortgage-backed securities for Merrill Lynch. “I was completely miscast,” he said. (And, with his long hair, double nose ring and ponytailed beard, he looks it.) He’s not much of a cinephile — “I’ve been to five movies in five years,” he said — but opened the theater because he thought it would be fun, and fruitful. “I’m an entrepreneur,” he said.

Update: The Brooklyn DA’s office is now investigating the case.

Photo: Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

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  • Owen Hughes

    If he started out working for Merrill Lynch, he must have assumed that the government always overlooked rampant criminality and outright theft….he’s now learning there are different rules for Wall Street and Front Street.

  • Alexis Lenhart

    Hill Country would love to help couples affected if at all possible. Please email Sarina Law – slaw@hillcountrybk.com if you are still looking for a venue.

  • MonroeOrange

    did anyone actually think to knock on his door? i bet he is sitting on his couch!

  • paint center

    Please help out one of the couples who spent there savings for their wedding only to find out that there venue has closed leaving them with nothing.Every little bit helps. Thank you in advance! http://www.gofundme.com/929sno

  • Commissar Molotov

    Thought exactly the same thing.

  • adam silverstein

    Well I can say for certain he has lost the double nose ring. Or perhaps he still has it. In his nose. At home. In a jar.