{"id":92578,"date":"2025-07-25T23:11:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T23:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92578\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T23:11:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T23:11:22","slug":"nyc-polo-bar-workers-used-drugs-on-shift-sexual-harassment-rampant-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92578\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Polo Bar workers used drugs on shift, sexual harassment rampant: lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

An exclusive Manhattan nightspot that\u2019s counted Meghan Markle, Kamala Harris<\/a> and Leonardo DiCaprio as customers is a hotbed for sexual harassment among employees \u2014 who used spray bottles to take cocaine during their shifts and had a rating system for good-looking customers, a bombshell lawsuit alleges.<\/p>\n

The swanky Polo Bar<\/a>, a bar and restaurant owned by fashion icon Ralph Lauren and located on East 55th Street at Fifth Avenue, has a \u201ctoxic culture \u2026 and rampant drug use and alcohol consumption at work,\u201d a veteran former server claimed in a federal lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Male bosses groped underlings under the guise of checking their uniforms and managers and servers often openly used cocaine, Frank Nobiletti claimed in court papers.<\/p>\n

The Polo Bar, located at 1 East 55th Street in NYC, NY on March 29, 2016. James Messerschmidt<\/p>\n

One server allegedly sold the drug on-site, and workers \u201cregularly mixed cocaine with water in a spray bottle and used that bottle to ingest cocaine\u201d through their skin \u201cduring service,\u201d he contended in the legal filing.<\/p>\n

Michael Lewis, the bar\u2019s events manager, and Darnell Dodson, its international hospitality directory, both touched Nobiletti, 42, inappropriately at different times, he alleged.<\/p>\n

Dodson was known to hire only attractive men, even if they had zero experience, \u201choping to have a sexual relationship with them,\u201d Nobiletti claimed in the lawsuit. \u201cMale employees who had a sexual relationship with him \u2026 would receive preferential treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Workers also allegedly played a twisted \u201cRating Game\u201d where \u201cwomen customers are rated based on attractiveness. <\/p>\n

Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff spotted leaving The Polo Bar. DIggzy\/Jesal \/ BACKGRID<\/p>\n

Its menu boasts caviar and potatoes for $145, pan-seared Dover sole for $80, and even $18 pigs in a blanket. Brett Beyer<\/p>\n

\u201cThe male servers frequently made offensive and graphic sexual comments about the women customers,\u201d the suit alleged.<\/p>\n

Since opening in 2015, Polo Bar has been one of the most exclusive celebrity haunts in the Big Apple. The establishment is popular with bold faced names like Tom Hanks, Bill and Hillary Clinton, George Clooney<\/a>, and U2\u2019s Bono.<\/p>\n

Its menu boasts caviar and potatoes for $145, pan-seared Dover sole for $80, and even $18 pigs in a blanket. One of its cocktails, The Family Reserve \u2014 which contains Jose Cuervo Reserva de la Familia Extra A\u00f1ejo Tequila, D.O.M. Benedictine and Brandy, Cr\u00e8me de Cacao, and Amaro Averna \u2014 will set you back $50.<\/p>\n

George Clooney and Amal Clooney arrive to the Polo Bar on December 13, 2023 in New York City. GC Images<\/p>\n

Kim Kardashian is seen out for dinner at the Polo Bar on August 14, 2024 in New York City. GC Images<\/p>\n

Nobiletti claimed he \u201cfaced terrible sexual harassment\u201d and was fired in February 2024 after he complained human resources.<\/p>\n

Supervisors told him he was being let go \u201cfor drinking at work even though, since the Polo Bar opened in 2015, management and staff regularly drank alcohol and used illegal drugs during work hours with little to no consequences for such actions,\u201d he said in the legal papers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the restaurant and its hard-working staff do everything they can to ensure that their guests have a first class experience, defendants completely failed to guarantee that their employees had a safe and legal work environment,\u201d he said in the July 22 filing.<\/p>\n

In a statement to The Post, Polo Bar said: \u201cWe have high standards for how employees conduct themselves and no tolerance for misconduct, so we take swift action when these standards are not met. This includes Mr. Nobiletti\u2019s termination that was based on\u00a0clear evidence of his misconduct. Because we take all employee-related concerns seriously, we thoroughly investigated Mr. Nobiletti\u2019s allegations and determined they have\u00a0no merit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobiletti is seeking unspecified damages. His attorneys declined to discuss the case. Lewis and Dodson could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An exclusive Manhattan nightspot that\u2019s counted Meghan Markle, Kamala Harris and Leonardo DiCaprio as customers is a hotbed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":92579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,61260,13615,27593,336,13618,6436,5248,7490,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,10514,61261,16808,61262,61263,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-92578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bono","10":"tag-george-clooney","11":"tag-kamala-harris","12":"tag-lawsuits","13":"tag-leonardo-dicaprio","14":"tag-meghan-markle","15":"tag-metro","16":"tag-mushrooms","17":"tag-new-york","18":"tag-new-york-city","19":"tag-newyork","20":"tag-newyorkcity","21":"tag-ny","22":"tag-nyc","23":"tag-oprah-winfrey","24":"tag-ralph-lauren","25":"tag-salmon","26":"tag-the-clintons","27":"tag-tom-hanks","28":"tag-united-states","29":"tag-united-states-of-america","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","32":"tag-us","33":"tag-us-news","34":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114916405003619350","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}