The missing owner of Bel Rio, James Kirk Baldi, now owes $45,964.67 in damages and court costs to his former restaurant and music venue investor.
Bel Rio LLC no longer exists as of Friday morning, when Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Edward L. Hogshire dissolved it while granting part owner Gareth Weldon’s motion for summary judgment.
Weldon, who filed suit July 7 against Baldi alleging fraud, said after the hearing that he was relieved.
“I’m glad to get away from this whole mess,” Weldon said. “Well, to be further away from it.”
Weldon testified Friday that he got involved with the Belmont eatery because he wanted to provide a place for local musicians to play. The self-described “old musician” put up $50,000, as did Baldi and Dave Simpson, for the restaurant’s start in September 2008. But in late 2008, Weldon said, he contacted lawyer Daniel J. Meador Jr. over his concerns about how the business was being run.
In the lawsuit, Baldi is accused of breach of fiduciary duty and conversion. Weldon testified Friday that he received almost no financial information about the business despite repeated requests for financial documents. According to what bank statements he could find, Weldon said, Baldi bought out Simpson’s share in 2009 with at least $7,000 of the restaurant’s money. Weldon testified that more than $5,000 of Bel Rio’s funds were used to pay rent for Baldi’s cantina on Elliewood Avenue, $700 to a dentist and about $31,000 in cash withdrawals.
Weldon said he has since spoken to a successful local restaurateur about cash withdrawals, which can be used to cover tips when there isn’t enough cash on hand to pay the staff their tips written on credit card slips. He said the man told him that he took out about $200 at most a month for that purpose.
Baldi, who Weldon said withdrew more than $11,000 in May, has not been heard from since July. Weldon testified that he personally paid about $8,500 to satisfy the rent on the Bel Rio space after the restaurant abruptly closed.
Meador said in court that Bel Rio also owes tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid federal and state taxes.
The damages and costs that Baldi owes will remain as a judgment against him unless they are paid, Meador said. The judgment could impact any property that Baldi owns. As of Friday, Baldi was still the listed owner of a house on Elliott Avenue.
The restaurant was at the center of a debate over noise in the city’s residential neighborhoods, with neighbors complaining of loud live music and prompting the city to crack down.
Baldi also is facing two counts of embezzlement in connection with money that was taken from an Albemarle County business called Duraclean in 2008.
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