Mario Batali is expected in Massachusetts court on Friday, NBC Boston reports. The disgraced chef will face a criminal assault charge of indecent assault and battery.
The charge stems from an unspecified incident at a restaurant in Boston's Back Bay on March 31, 2017. Prosecutors did not name where the alleged assault took place or who the victim in the lawsuit is, but NBC notes there is a lawsuit on record filed from last August about an alleged incident at Towne Stove and Spirits in the same neighborhood.
Per the lawsuit, the victim reportedly tried to take a photo of Batali from across the restaurant they were both dining. When Batali noticed the woman taking a photo, he allegedly invited her over to take a selfie. He then instead "grabbed and kissed [the victim's] face, rubbed her breasts, grabbed her buttocks, put his hands between her legs and groped her groin area, and kept forcefully squeezing her face into his as he kissed her repeatedly," the suit notes.
The document goes on to explain "Batali's actions were without warning or permission, were unwanted and disgusting and made [the victim] feel shocked and highly uncomfortable."
According to CNN, the woman has asked for damages to be paid "in an amount determined by the Court." Batali's camp has vehemently denied all instances of wrongdoing in this case, though when allegations of misconduct against him first broke in December of 2017, he issued a statement saying some of Eater's original report “[matched] up” with his past behavior" and that "that behavior was wrong."
