SLA May Destroy Real Estate Mogul's Nightlife Empire

Real estate mogul Michael Shah is not enjoying the same level of success in running his nightlife empire the Line Group. His former partnership with wunderkind Matt Levine flamed out, leading Levine to sue Shah for $20 million over the breakup. Now the State Liquor Authority is going after Shah as well, claiming that he has allowed his new partners to represent themselves as license holders to the public for boîtes like Leave Rochelle Out Of It, Sons of Essex and the Raven, despite the fact that Levine is still on the licenses. That's a big no-no.

The SLA is threatening legal action against Shah and all of his clubs, with a possibility of terminating all of the liquor licenses. Meanwhile Levine has moved on to open Chalkpoint Kitchen and Handy Liquor Bar in Soho, and must be enjoying all of the pain that his ex-partner is feeling.
· SLA Moves to Revoke Liquor License from Sons of Essex, Rochelle's, and BFB Highline [Bowery Boogie]
· Nightlife Coverage [~ENY~]

Line Group owner Michael Shah has provided the following statement in response to this article, saying that "The information stated in this article is inaccurate and has been taken out of context. I was falsely accused of allowing the Creative Directors of each respective venue to represent that they were owners and, while all either are current or were former employees and important to the hospitality experience, I have always been the only owner. I will defend these matters as appropriate before the SLA and the venues managed by the Line Group will continue to operate business as usual."

There you go.