Owners of buzzy LA restaurant used millions in investor cash to fly in OnlyFans models, splurge on lavish lifestyle: suit

Three shady businessmen used investor money to fly in OnlyFans models to spice up restaurant openings along with other splurges on luxury cars and homes, according to a recent lawsuit.

The three men — Tosh Berman, Michael Tanha and Mahdiar Karamooz — own Casa Madera in West Hollywood, which prides itself on dealing out “traditional coastal Mexican flavor.” The ritzy place is located within the Mondrian Los Angeles hotel on Sunset Boulevard.

Investors allege the men “intentionally and systematically defrauded” them on several occasions and siphoned money from the restaurants they owned, also including locations in Arizona, Nevada and Florida. The investors are consolidated within companies Madera Group Investments and Madera Group Holdings, which pools investor money for investment opportunities.

“This control group has intentionally and systematically defrauded MGI, MGH, and the other members of these LLCs through a complex fraudulent design which, among other schemes,” the lawsuit says, “siphoned to themselves substantial revenues and financial benefits realized through operating various restaurant establishments while foisting the costs and expenses incurred to generate such revenues upon the restaurants themselves and, ultimately, investors in those restaurants.”

Berman and Tanha then used the money for a variety of outlandish purchases like flight tickets for OnlyFans models and other women to attend restaurant openings, a $5 million home in Miami, an Aspen ranch, and various luxury cars including a white Ferrari and a Maybach SUV.

The two men also globetrotted. The lawsuit notes costly and long trips to Europe, Australia, Dubai and other places.

Karamooz, when informed of the elaborate purchases, allegedly falsified financial records to hide the spending.

The investors are alleging the men siphoned any additional revenue from the restaurants, leaving them with little cash-on-hand. They pointed to a variety of ways the men have embezzled the money including pocketing $3 million from restaurant discount company inKind, which pays establishments for marketing their discounts to customers.

Instead of using the money to blunt the impact of the loss caused by the InKind credits, the men kept it and forced the financial impact onto the investors.

The businessmen also allegedly misrepresented the fee they received for renting out the Toca Madera Las Vegas for Super Bowls LVII and LVIII in order to stuff their pockets with more money. In the first instance, they rented out the place for $1.3 million, but told investors they only received $600,000 so they could pocket the rest of the money.

For the February 2024 Super Bowl, the men received the same fee and pocketed an undisclosed amount.

When the investors requested financial records from the men and the restaurants in May 2024, they were stonewalled. After a second written request, the Toca Madera Scottsdale sued the investor groups, alleging some of the investors transferred their shares to third parties in violation of its operating agreements. The investors denied this claim.

The Scottsdale location produced some of the records to “placate” the investors, but they deemed this offering insufficient. The subsequent back-and-forth between investors and the businessmen has led to last week’s lawsuit.

The investors are alleging the men committed securities fraud, filed a RICO charge against them for alleged racketeering, and a number of other fraud-related charges. They’re seeking damages, likely in the millions, attorney’s fees, and that a trust be placed over the defendants’ assets.

Lawyers representing the investors refused to comment when contacted by The Post, noting it was not “our policy not to comment on pending litigation.”