Restaurateur Ussi Moniz Da Silva still owes millions, investigation stalls after vanishing act
After a restaurateur vanished offshore, investigations into his collapsed business have stalled, with investors and vendors still owed millions of dollars.
NSW
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A nightmare restaurateur has fled the country, leaving behind multiple failed eateries and millions in unpaid debt – and the financial watchdog is now unable to investigate his trail of destruction.
Investors and vendors accept they likely won’t get their money back from Ussi Moniz Da Silva, who burst onto the city’s hospitality scene almost a decade ago, quickly making a name for himself with his big and bold ideas, stunning venue fit-outs and apparent success.
He began with Upper East Side in Bondi, then Meu Jardim in the CBD, opened Sinaloa in Double Bay, and finally earned himself the moniker of the “New King of the Cross” when he became involved in Maali, Eros and KX Social.
But Da Silva’s restaurants all failed, leaving behind a long list of creditors, unpaid staff and an enormous trail of debt totalling almost $8 million.
“We raised concerns over a lot of things, but he always had a way of talking it around,” one investor said.
Now Da Silva is nowhere to be found, having left Australia when his empire began to crumble.
In reports, liquidators raised concerns that Da Silva may have been trading insolvent and “breached his duties” with “unreasonable” transactions.
“Never have I worked somewhere where I continuously had to chase what I’m owed for weeks of working,” a former employee said.
“Cherry on top of dealing with Ussi and his mates was finding out I wasn’t paid any super.
“He just totally stuffed us all around.”
Since 2020, Da Silva has been listed as a director of a number of different companies which have gone bust.
The Sunday Telegraph can reveal one creditor took Da Silva to the NSW District Court to recoup their losses, where a judge recently ordered he repay more than $800,000.
But despite owing millions to landlords, and thousands to staff, suppliers and even the tax office, no one has received a cent back.
Da Silva’s trail of restaurant closures and unpaid debts is extensive.
His Bondi hotspot Upper East Side crumbled in 2020, with Fair Work taking the directors to court and securing $164,635 in penalties — including underpaying staff.
That venture also landed him in hot water with PR guru Roxy Jacenko, whose agency took him to the local court over a payment dispute.
At the same time Fair Work was pursuing Upper East Side, Da Silva opened up Meu Jardim in the heart of Sydney’s CBD, boasting of a $4 million fit-out.
He opened up the fine-dining French eatery thanks to capital from Fitness First founder Tony de Leede, but staff complained of underpayment and investors raised eyebrows at unpaid taxes and superannuation.
“He was slick and he really appeared to be a man who knew what he was doing in the beginning,” a person close to Da Silva’s operations said.
“But then came the dodgy characters through the doors.”
One of those was Thomas Vandermade, better known as rapper “Masi Rooc”, who filmed a music video inside the restaurant but is serving a maximum 14½ years in jail for the attempted shooting assassination of a rival.
Less than two years after opening, Meu Jardim shut down, owing $6,985,880, including $4 million in unpaid rent for the Kent Street building.
That rent was owed to Crown Group, owned by businessmen Paul Sathio and Iwan Sunito, which itself went into administration last year, listing owed debts from Da Silva in liquidators reports.
Da Silva also opened Mexican restaurant Sinaloa at Double Bay and three clubs at Potts Point, in buildings owned by “King of the Cross” John Ibrahim.
Eros, Maali and KX Social sat side-by-side on the Bayswater Rd strip but they all shut down after less than a year.
After a forced closure by independent Liquor and Gaming Authorities over fears of a bikie fight at Eros, Da Silva left town, leaving staff chasing wages, and suppliers again out of pocket.
Sinaloa and Maali creditors are owed $630,000, tax debts sit at $21,000, and $100,000 is owed to a company owned by Mr de Leede.
Da Silva has never been charged with any crimes – but people are now asking: why couldn’t the corporate regulator do more to stop the series of collapses?
Business watchdog ASIC said they did not comment on “investigations”, but sources said any action against Da Silva was stalled after he went overseas in October 2023 – around the same time that Eros, Maali and KX Social suddenly closed.
Professor Clinton Free from the University of Sydney Business School is an expert in the area of corporate collapses and said ASIC had an “underwhelming” record of actually dealing with individuals such as Da Silva.
“I don’t think the public interest is being served at present by a public watchdog which is too timid to bark,” he said.
“The impact of this is taking people’s livelihoods off them, leaving them with debts, including their staff.
“Doing it once, I would have thought, creates enormous sort of harm, so I don’t think that washes to say that we have to have such sort of repeat (situations) … before we act.
“This is maddening the story that you’re telling.”
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