This wasn’t very kosher.
A once prominent kosher steakhouse and butchery owner — who has since done lobbying work for the country of Qatar — owes over half a million dollars in unpaid wages, interest and fines, state officials claim.
The New York State Department of Labor is trying to recoup $646,893 from Joseph Allaham, nearly a decade after his high-end Manhattan steakhouse, Prime Grill, closed in 2016, according to recent court filings.
Lawyers for the department say Allaham — who became a lobbyist with a $1.4 million contract from Qatar after the eatery shuttered — owes his former staff $168,000 total.
That includes $110,000 in unpaid wages to four butchers who worked at Allaham’s since-shuttered Upper East Side kosher butcher shop, Prime Butcher and Baker, between 2007 and 2013, according to the filing for judgment in Manhattan Supreme Court.
With interest and damages, the total in the July 8 filing comes out to $441,000.
The state first asked him to cough up the cash in 2019, and Allaham appealed the judgement against him. The court recently ruled against him, in the state’s favor, prompting the latest filing.
In 2016, state labor officials also accused Allaham of underpaying workers $58,000, charging him a total of $205,893 with interest and damages, court papers show.
The DOL spokesperson told The Post Allaham has yet to pay a dime in either judgment.
The Syrian-born Allaham left the kosher food biz around 2017 and took up a second act as a highly-paid lobbyist for several foreign countries, including a $675,000 contract with the Democratic Party of Albania, $49,000 for Kosovo and for Qatar, according to the US Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents filing records.
Prominent Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy once sued Allaham, claiming that he played a role in what Broidy said was a Qatar-backed hack of his emails.
Allaham settled the suit and admitted knowledge of the hack, but refuted that he played a role in it, according to the Wall Street Journal.
He did not respond to requests for comment from The Post.
