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Tilman Fertitta is another one of Trump’s billionaire buddies who has hurt workers to protect his own fortune. In 2020, Fertitta claimed he was doing employees “a favor” by furloughing them. Fertitta’s companies also attempted to cancel paid time off during the pandemic before reversing course under scrutiny. This was in addition to Fertitta’s acceptance of $160 million in PPP loans, despite the program’s intent to help small businesses. To top it all off, one of Fertitta’s companies settled a lawsuit in 2020 that alleged they had systematically paid employees less than minimum wage. During the pandemic, Fertitta also took advantage of cheap money to go on an acquisition streak that was marred by self-dealing and shareholder losses. Fertitta created an acquisition company that later bought one of his own companies despite a clear conflict-of-interest. Another one of Fertitta’s companies lost 90% of its value, prompting a shareholder lawsuit. In addition to their treatment of employees and shareholders, Fertitta’s companies have also faced accusations of mistreating tigers. Fertitta has never held political office, but some of his only foreign policy experiences came in 2019. That year Daryl Morey, a high-profile Fertitta employee, spoke out against China and their crackdown against Hong Kong. Fertitta rebuked Morey after China retaliated for the comments and cost Fertitta’s Rockets and the NBA hundreds of millions of dollars. While Trump may be happy that Tilman Fertitta will contribute billions of dollars to the net worth of the “wealthiest administration in modern history,” his baggage of employee mistreatment, shady business deals, and fealty to China will hurt the administration. |
April 2020: Tilman Fertitta Stated He Was Doing Employers A “Favor” By Furloughing Them. According to The Hill, "Billionaire businessman Tilman Fertitta said that employers such as himself are doing workers a 'favor' by furloughing them quickly to help them receive unemployment benefits amid the coronavirus pandemic in an interview on Saturday. [...] "'How hard was that decision to lay off your employees?' Kilmeade asked Fertitta. 'You know, Brian, I went through the ’87 crisis, the 2000, the 2008,' Fertitta responded. 'You’re doing the people a favor if you get them furloughed first because you have them first to unemployment line after the severance that you give them. It’s a trick that I’ve learned many years ago.’” [The Hill, 4/12/20]
March 2020: Tilman Fertitta’s Hotel Cancelled Employee’s Paid Time Off Before Reversing Decision. According to Eater Houston, "After announcing that his ritzy Post Oak Hotel would 'temporarily' eliminate paid time off benefits for employees, billionaire restaurateur Tilman Fertitta has reversed course. A spokesperson for the hotel told the Houston Chronicle that Post Oak Hotel employees will be able to use vacation pay if their hours are cut, and the company will continue pay and benefits through the end of June, or whenever 'normal operations' resume. Originally, employees had been told that all time off would have to be taken unpaid due to declining business at the Hotel during the coronavirus crisis. [...] A representative for Fertitta says that the restaurateur was not aware of the memo circulated to employees by Post Oak Hotel general manager Jorge Gonzales, which informed employees that paid time off was off the table for now. " [Eater Houston, 3/18/20]
2020: Tilman Fertitta Accepted $160 Million PPP Loan Before Returning It After Outcry. According to Forbes, "In March 2020, when Covid-19 lockdowns began, Fertitta shuttered nearly all his operations and laid off 40,000 workers. He received $160 million in forgivable federal paycheck protection program loans—but gave it all back to Uncle Sam after public outrage over big operators getting cash intended to help small businesses. " [Forbes, 4/21/22]
2020: Tilman Fertitta’s Company Settled Lawsuit Which Alleged Employees Were Paid Less Than Minimum Wage. According to The Advocate, "After 18 months in the legal system, Waitr Holdings Inc. is in the final stages of settling a class action lawsuit brought against the company by delivery drivers who claimed they were not paid at least minimum wage in violation of federal law. The value of the settlement could be roughly $7.4 million and the plan is to divvy a maximum of 1.5 million shares of the company's stock among tens of thousands of drivers after attorneys fees and the lead drivers are compensated. [...] The lawsuit claimed that Waitr misclassified some drivers as independent contractors and didn't pay them minimum wage for all the hours they worked or overtime when they worked more than 40 hours a week. Rather, the company erroneously classified some employee drivers as independent contractors and paid only a delivery fee in addition to tips from customers, according to the lawsuit." [Advocate, 8/17/20]
2016: Tilman Fertitta’s Company Was Accused Of Mistreating Tigers. According to Houston Chronicle, "A national animal welfare group on Monday notified Landry's Inc. it plans to sue the company if it doesn't take them up on an offer to find new homes for four white tigers they say are being forced to live in deplorable conditions at the company's Downtown Aquarium. [...] Leaders of the San Franciso-based Animal Legal Defense Fund say the tigers have no access to sunlight, fresh air or natural surfaces and live in what amounts to a 'Landry's sponsored dungeon' in the current exhibit at the aquarium known as the 'Maharaja's Temple.' The threat of legal action appears to be spurred by new standards under consideration by the Association for Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) that stipulate tiger exhibits include an outdoor space, natural vegetation, and reduced exposure to the public, none of which they say is available to Landry's white tigers. The Landry's aquarium is accredited by the AZA. By denying the tigers access to a more natural habitat, the group is alleging the company, owned by Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta, is violating the new AZA standards and the federal Endangered Species Act." [Houston Chronicle, 9/19/16]
2019: Tilman Fertitta Criticized Employee Daryl Morey For His Comments Supporting Hong Kong After China’s Crackdown. According to the New York Times, “For Tilman Fertitta, the billionaire restaurant magnate, host of the CNBC television show ‘Billion Dollar Buyer’ and owner of the N.B.A.’s Houston Rockets, silence is unusual. Yet, he has been mostly silent publicly since his Oct. 4 social media rebuke of Daryl Morey, his basketball team’s general manager, after Morey expressed support for the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong with a post on Twitter. With his team getting set to play preseason games in Japan, Fertitta quickly distanced himself — not from the authoritarian Chinese government, but from his widely admired executive.His statement was simple: Morey had gone rogue. ‘Listen....@dmorey does NOT speak for the @HoustonRockets. Our presence in Tokyo is all about the promotion of the @NBA internationally and we are NOT a political organization,’ Fertitta wrote. [...] The Rockets were the team of Yao Ming, the Hall of Fame center and one of the most popular athletes in China. Morey’s tweet, in which he shared an image that said “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong” has — for now — mostly collapsed the partnership between the N.B.A. and China, a country in which the league has spent decades making inroads to expand its business.” [New York Times, 10/24/19]
Tilman Fertitta Was Previously Outspoken On Political Issues
Tilman Fertitta Was Previously Outspoken On Political Issues. According to the New York Times, “But Fertitta had been willing to speak on politics, particularly domestic issues, before — and without distancing the Rockets from his views. Just weeks before Morey shared the Hong Kong image, Fertitta told Yahoo that socialism ‘scares the hell out of me.’ In 2017, he told CNBC that President Trump was doing a ‘great job.’ That same year, he criticized San Francisco for requiring some businesses to set aside money for employee health insurance, raising costs for his restaurants in the city.” [New York Times, 10/24/19]
Tilman Fertitta Is A Billionaire. According to The Texas Tribune, "President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday he would nominate Houston billionaire hospitality mogul Tilman Fertitta to serve as U.S. ambassador to Italy." [The Texas Tribune, 12/21/24]
2020: Tilman Feritta’s Acquisition Company Acquired His Entertainment Company. According to Forbes, "In one notable case, he stood on both sides of a crucial deal for Golden Nugget Online Gaming. In 2019, before the pandemic, Fertitta and his longtime bankers, Jefferies Financial Group, raised $250 million for a SPAC (Landcadia Holdings II) with the stated aim of acquiring an entertainment company. Fertitta got a 10% promoter’s stake, plus the titles of co-chairman and CEO. [...] Two months later, in June 2020, Landcadia II announced it had found its acquisition target—none other than Fertitta’s own online gaming division, the one with that pricey loan. When his SPAC closed on the purchase of GNOG in December 2020 for $745 million (six times revenues), Fertitta ended up with 49% of GNOG’s shares and a $30 million cash payment. He was also rid of the obligation to pay back that emergency debt—and able to keep the borrowed $300 million." [Forbes, 4/21/22]
2022: Separate Acquisition Company Run By Tilman Fertitta Lost 90% Of Its Value Prompting Shareholder Lawsuit.
According to Forbes, "Moreover, shares in the average SPAC have lost money after a year, and some are ending up in litigation. That’s the fate of Waitr, the Louisiana-based food delivery service that Fertitta and Jefferies acquired in 2018 via their first SPAC, Landcadia I, which raised $250 million. Waitr shares have lost 90% of their value, and class-action plaintiffs accuse him of making false statements pertaining to Waitr’s 'huge potential' in taking on the likes of DoorDash and Grubhub, and their 'highly complementary' nature with his other businesses. His attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss the case as lacking any actual claims of fraud and say the talk was merely 'corporate optimism and puffery.' A decision on the motion is pending. " [Forbes,
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