He was at the top for years, then came the big fall: Alfons Schuhbeck lost his restaurant empire and ended up in prison. But that may not be all – there are new allegations.
New allegations against Alfons Schuhbeck: The Munich I public prosecutor’s office is also investigating the star chef, who is in prison for tax evasion, for delaying insolvency and fraud in connection with Corona aid. This is reported by the newspapers “Münchner Merkur” and “tz” (Friday edition). The spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office, Anne Leiding, confirmed the investigation on Thursday when asked. According to her, the investigation is coming to an end and the proceedings are expected to be concluded soon. Schuhbeck’s lawyer Norbert Scharf did not want to comment on this when asked by the German Press Agency.
Last year, Schuhbeck began his prison sentence for tax evasion. The Munich I Regional Court sentenced him to three years and two months in prison. It was convinced that he had evaded 2.3 million euros in taxes and had dipped into the tills of two of his restaurants more than 1,000 times to make money disappear. He admitted to using a computer program that an employee had created on his behalf. You can find more background information on his prison sentence in the video.
Schuhbeck was initially held in the Landsberg am Lech correctional facility and is now in a branch of the prison in the Rothenfeld district of Andechs. The fact that he was transferred there is the last officially confirmed news about his situation after starting his sentence. The “Bild” newspaper reported at the time that Schuhbeck would be given day release and would be allowed to leave the prison temporarily. Neither the prison management nor Schuhbeck’s lawyer wanted to comment on how the former star chef lives there and what his situation is.
Schuhbeck was a fixture in Munich’s bussi-bussi society for years. He entertained celebrities and became one himself. He cooked for the Queen, the Beatles, Charlie Chaplin and, time and again, FC Bayern Munich and became one of the most famous chefs and restaurateurs in the country.
His name was a brand for years. Schuhbeck built up a network of companies with three restaurants, a catering service, an ice cream parlor and spice shops. He worked 19 hours a day, he said on his 70th birthday five years ago. But Schuhbeck fell far. He filed for bankruptcy for his Munich restaurants, and last year bankruptcy proceedings were also opened against him personally.
Nowadays, only the spice shops remain of the former gastronomy empire. Schuhbeck also gave cooking courses in the Munich shop until shortly before he went to prison.
“I did a lot of things wrong,” Schuhbeck said in court in 2022, before he was able to make a more comprehensive confession. “I deceived myself, my friends and acquaintances, and also my defense attorneys until the very end because I did not want to admit that I had failed as a business owner.” During the trial, he also said: “If I could undo it, I would do it immediately.” And: “I am standing in front of the ruins of my life’s work.”
