From Bondi’s Icebergs to Melbourne fine dining: Son of Terzini empire accused of sexual attacks and violence

The “King of Bondi”, the “Lazarus of Australian dining”, Maurice Terzini has spent decades putting his Italian brutalist stamp on dozens of restaurants, from Bondi’s iconic Icebergs Dining Room and Bar to the Melbourne Wine Room.

But for years, one of the most powerful figures in hospitality has also been protecting his son, Sylvester Terzini, who has been accused of carving a trail of destruction by allegedly sexually assaulting women, threatening co-workers and shattering decades-old relationships in the tight-knit restaurant industry, a months-long investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age can reveal.

In Bondi, the Terzinis rule from the beach’s southern cliff. Maurice, the “culture whisperer”, is as known for his $400-a-head New Year’s Day parties that fuse food, fashion and celebrity as for his trend-defying Italo-Australian cuisine.

“It’s my favourite restaurant in the whole world,” TV chef Nigella Lawson said of Icebergs Dining Room in 2019. Paris Hilton partied there through the New Year 12 years earlier. Leonardo DiCaprio went for lunch in 2012, as did Oprah Winfrey in 2015.

Maurice said the two-hatted institution lives by the creed of old-school hospitality: “What happens at the Ice stays at the Ice.”

But multiple women and business associates say the global acclaim masks a darker side, tinged with drugs, threats and violence, that has left them shattered and scared.

“I don’t go to Bondi,” said one woman who claims she was choked and attacked by Sylvester in 2020. “That’s how much it f---ed me. I can’t look at the beach and not think about it.”

Icebergs Dining Room and Bar looks over Bondi Beach.

Two women allege they were attacked by the 32-year-old while sleeping. Another person claims Sylvester sexually assaulted them in the bathroom of a popular Sydney nightclub. They are among the dozen personal and professional sources close to the Terzinis who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of safety fears.

Sylvester has also been accused of violent rages, including pulling out a knife in front of colleagues at Icebergs Dining Room and Restaurant Hubert.

Text messages show Maurice was aware of claims of sexual assault and violence against Sylvester – even acknowledging his son was “dangerous” to those in his personal life – but continued to employ him in restaurants he owned as his empire expanded from Bondi to Melbourne.

Former close professional and personal contacts of the Terzinis claim Maurice knew of Sylvester’s violent behaviour and responded by shifting him between venues in the two cities.

Through his lawyers, Maurice denied he had engaged in any inappropriate conduct by employing his son at his venues.

Restaurateur Maurice Terzini at Icebergs Dining Room and Bar.Credit: Louise Kennerley

“As far as our client is aware, our client’s businesses have no record of any allegation of sexual misconduct having been made against any of its employees or managers arising out of its venues,” his lawyers said.

Sylvester declined to answer a series of specific questions from this masthead but broadly denied the allegations.

“The email contains a number of allegations, misrepresentations and false statements,” his lawyer said in a statement.

“Our client has no criminal history for violence or sexual misconduct. We do not intend to address all of the allegations raised by your email. However, we advise that our client denies any sexual misconduct and the allegations of violence.”

The alleged attacks have destroyed relationships in the industry, with several alleged victims having close ties to the family that redefined modern Italian dining in Australia.

None of the alleged sexual incidents occurred inside Maurice’s venues, but multiple of his alleged victims first met Sylvester at one of the hospitality veteran’s restaurants or connected businesses.

Sylvester and Maurice Terzini at their former venue, Snack Kitchen.

In 2016, one woman claimed she was threatened and attacked by Sylvester in Sydney.

“It was incredibly violent,” she said. “It was at that moment that I knew that he was telling me, without using any words, that I was at his mercy to do basically anything.”

Another woman claimed she was sexually assaulted by Sylvester while she was sleeping in 2018.

“I would wake up in the middle of the night to him doing things to me that, looking back on, I’m just like, what the absolute f---,” the woman said.

“It was just very much: you’re a woman in my bed. I own you. You will do what I want because you can’t stand up for yourself.”

The woman said she was speaking out now because others had come forward.

“I don’t want this to happen to another girl,” she said.

In 2020, a childhood friend who first met Sylvester at one of Maurice’s restaurants pressed charges after allegedly being choked by him while she was sleeping.

When Sylvester returned to Sydney from a stint in Melbourne, the pair met up for drinks, talked about his two-year plan to move to Italy and then watched a movie at his apartment in Potts Point.

“I went there and I felt safe, and everything was fine. We were hanging out. I actually had my period, so I wasn’t up to do anything,” she said.

“In the morning, I woke up because I couldn’t breathe. I came to and realised that he was on me, I was being strangled, and he was masturbating. I was actually pretty f---ing sure when I woke up that I was about to die.”

Caught between surviving and the chokehold around her neck, the woman said she pretended she enjoyed it.

“I put my hand between his elbow and my neck so that I could breathe, and then I just started stroking it for a moment,” she said.

After Sylvester finished, the woman took a shower and then told him she loved him and had to leave. She then bought new clothes in the CBD because she “felt gross”.

“The way I reacted, I think it’s the smartest thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “But because of how I reacted and [because] we were flirting [in messages before the incident] when it went to court … it was just nothing.”

Sylvester and Maurice Terzini also worked together at Jackson’s on George. Credit: Steven Siewert

The charges of choking and sexual touching without consent were dismissed in May 2021.

“Our client was acquitted of sexual touching after a contested hearing,” Sylvester’s lawyers said.

Court records show Sylvester did not show up to a court appearance and pleaded guilty to failing to appear in court.

In messages with Maurice in 2020, the woman described feeling torn about making a police report because of her relationship with the Terzini family and the impact it would have on their reputation.

Maurice said it was “getting serious” and would be “happy to sort a time to talk with both legal parties to put this to bed”.

“I really just wanted to say, as a family, we are devastated that we find ourselves in this position coming up to Xmas, it has been incredibly hard and emotional,” Maurice said to the woman.

The woman said it took her years to understand the impact of the alleged incident.

The 32-year-old said she was studying to become a lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music before the alleged incident.

“It’s all just crumbled,” she said. “I didn’t realise how it was going to affect me. I started seeing his face whenever my partner would try to kiss me. I wasn’t able to sleep. I was paranoid anytime a man would touch me.”

Another alleged victim said they also raised concerns with Maurice about Sylvester’s violent behaviour.

“He has just these crazy outbursts of absolute f---ing rage,” said one woman.

“It was always just a blind eye,” said another.

During a reprieve from COVID lockdowns, Sylvester allegedly sexually assaulted an 18-year-old in the toilets of a popular Sydney nightclub.

The alleged victim claimed, “he pushed me onto the floor and wrapped his hands around my hair” before they were sexually assaulted.

“He says to me, if you want me to be your boyfriend, I’m not your f---ing sugar daddy,” they said. “Then he pushed me onto the brick wall, grabbed me and told me to lick the dirt.”

Former colleagues say the warning signs came early. As a teenager, Sylvester was fired from Icebergs Dining Room for stealing alcohol.

In 2008, Sylvester went to Melbourne to work at Maurice’s restaurant Giuseppe, Arnaldo & Sons.

“My son, Sylvester, who’s 15, will start in the kitchen and work his way around the restaurant,” Maurice said. “He’s on a fairly disciplined program to learn the business.”

Maurice said his businesses taught his children the need for discretion.

“Icebergs lives by the rules of the old school world of service: we serve and by default, we hear, but we never really hear anything,” he told Forbes Australia in 2022. “What happens at the Ice stays at the Ice.”

Maurice Terzini has been accused of “turning a blind eye” to his son’s troubling behaviour. Credit: Louie Douvis

When Sylvester returned to Maurice’s Bondi flagship from 2013 to 2015, he allegedly pointed a knife at a co-worker.

After returning empty plates to the dish pit, Sylvester got into an argument with the dish hand and allegedly picked up a steak knife. Staff rushed over to pull him away.

Maurice denies there was any violent behaviour by Sylvester at his venues.

Icebergs Dining Room and Bar shares a building with Bondi Icebergs Club and the swimming club, which are unrelated to Terzini’s top-floor venue.

Icebergs Dining Room’s investors, hoteliers Damien Reed and Deke Miskin, distanced themselves from the Terzinis after being made aware of the allegations this week.

They said Sylvester had not been employed at Icebergs Dining Room since 2019. Reed and Miskin took over as directors of the investment company 1 Notts Avenue in 2022.

“Our clients are not aware of any sexual misconduct or harassment claims having ever been made by any staff member of the company in the 10 years that they have been a shareholder of the company,” their lawyers said.

“The relationship between Mr Maurice Terzini and his son and the conduct of Mr Terzini’s son are private matters that have no connection whatsoever with the company or its businesses.”

Sylvester has also been accused of violence at another venue with links to the Terzinis, allegedly pulling a knife on a colleague when working at the Swillhouse-run Restaurant Hubert in January 2017.

Anton Forte, Swillhouse’s managing director and owner of Restaurant Hubert, has long been close to Maurice.

A Swillhouse spokesperson said management immediately sent him home.

“The staff member was counselled and left the business the following day,” the spokesperson said.

Sylvester Terzini allegedly pulled a knife out in front of a colleague at Restaurant Hubert.

Terzini pulled out of Swillhouse’s inaugural festival, Swillfest, in August after this masthead published an investigation that revealed accusations that the major Sydney hospitality group failed to support staff who reported multiple alleged sexual assaults.

“It’s imperative that we do what is best for the industry we love,” Terzini said.

But Maurice has continued to support Sylvester despite multiple allegations against him, employing him in at least seven of his more than two dozen restaurants, including The Dolphin Hotel, Bistro George and CicciaBella.

By 2018, when Sylvester was sentenced to a two-year conditional release order without conviction after pleading guilty to possessing cocaine, his bad temper and drug use were an open industry secret.

An associate of the Terzinis said he has witnessed Sylvester “get quite inebriated” and then make moves on women with his “liquid courage”.

“He doesn’t really take no for an answer,” they said. “It seems to be an open secret that he’s a bit of a sexual predator, but because of his father’s position and the family’s power, it’s really hard. That’s just working in this industry.”

After Sylvester was charged with choking and sexual touching without consent in 2020, he moved from Sydney to Melbourne and continued to work in his father’s venues.

This masthead has seen evidence that in 2021, as Sylvester’s choking charge proceeded through the courts, Maurice admitted he had lost close friends to support his son and his alleged sexual assaults.

Maurice also expressed distress at the fallout from removing Sylvester from one of his restaurants.

During his stint in Melbourne, Sylvester worked at the neighbourhood wine bar Napier Quarter, as well as restaurants Bar Rosella and Cucina Povera Vino Vero, which Maurice co-owned.

Bar Rosella’s owner, Rocco Esposito, said Sylvester “worked at his best”, and he was sad to see him go.

“I always make sure that all my employees work in a safe environment,” he said in an email.

Another personal associate of Sylvester’s warned Maurice of Sylvester’s continued violence and heavy substance use in Melbourne, fearing he was repeating his troubling behaviour from Sydney.

In the lead-up to the June 2022 opening of the much-hyped Italian restaurant Cucina Povera Vino Vero, which Maurice co-owned, Sylvester was embroiled in further chaos.

Cucina Povera Vino Vero closed suddenly in 2022. Credit: Good Food

He was set to join Maurice’s first Melbourne restaurant in more than a decade when he allegedly became involved in a violent incident outside Angel Music Bar on Bourke Street in the Melbourne CBD. Sylvester was removed from Cucina Povera before the short-lived restaurant opened. A sign posted on its door blamed “a severe staff shortage” for the restaurant’s sudden closure.

Maurice chose not to involve Sylvester in any more Melbourne businesses after growing frustrated from “bailing” him out of several incidents.

But he gave him another fresh start in Sydney at his venue, Bistro George, a year later at the revamped Jacksons on George, one of Maurice’s most ambitious openings since he started Icebergs Dining Room and Bar more than two decades ago.

Few former business partners, colleagues and personal connections were willing to speak openly about Maurice or his son, citing the restaurateur’s power and influence in the industry and the fear of retribution from a man who has run at least 25 establishments in the past three decades.

Maurice Terzini at the site of his formerly owned restaurant Otto in the early 2000sCredit: Jennifer Soo

“I feel like Sydney is really good at gatekeeping all this information and keeping people away from it to save their businesses,” said one woman.

Sylvester’s alleged victims have been reluctant to go to the police after the 2021 case was dismissed. They also cited fears for their safety and their careers.

A spokeswoman for NSW Police said the police force recognised the trauma that victims of sexual violence experience.

“There are a number of reporting options available to victims of sexual assault, some of which involve making a report to police but not necessarily pursuing an investigation,” the spokesperson said, referring to the anonymous online Sexual Assault Reporting Option.

“Police will always encourage victims to engage with support services even if they don’t want a legal outcome.”

Maurice Terzini (second right) opened Icebergs Harbour Bar in Crown Sydney at Barangaroo in November. Credit: Louise Kennerley

In November, Maurice launched the Icebergs Harbour Bar at Crown Sydney at Barangaroo. Maurice’s latest venture, Billy the Pig, opened in Bondi Junction this week.

Today, diners at Icebergs Dining Room – one of Australia’s only truly iconic establishments – see the fine dining restaurant and think of the ocean, sand and sky.

But the alleged victims think of attacks, violence and a powerful duo holding on to their secrets.

They say they can no longer look at Icebergs and the turquoise pool flowing over Bondi.

“There is just too much collateral damage now,” said one alleged victim.

“[Sylvester] really damaged me for a long time,” said another. “I’m just continuously amazed at the lack of repercussions and the lack of accountability. There is a lot of justice that needs to be met.”

Sylvester Terzini running service at Snack Kitchen. Credit: Brook Mitchell

In January last year, Maurice and Sylvester opened Snack Kitchen, a minimalist diner on Macleay Street for the after-work crowd in Potts Point. The restaurant was billed as the culmination of decades of work by the Terzinis: tomato carpaccio, mortadella and aperitivi served by waiters in white aprons and black ties.

Sylvester lauded Maurice’s “beautiful attention to detail”.

“After all these years of working together, we have finally opened a place that we can genuinely call ours!!” Maurice wrote on Instagram.

Despite strong reviews, Snack Kitchen closed less than six months later.

Asked by Good Food why they didn’t call it Terzini & Son? “That one still might come,” Sylvester said.

The victims of his alleged carnage hope it does not.

If you or anyone you know needs support, you can contact the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732), Lifeline 131 114, or Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.

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