When Mike Isabella filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in September, the former “Top Chef” star had hoped the company reorganization would stop the financial bleeding and “get me back to where I was” six months earlier, before a former manager accused him and his partners of sexual harassment, the Washington Post reported. He was, in short, fighting for a second chance to win over Washington diners who had helped his restaurant group grow into one of the largest in town. But in a chapter 7 filing on Tuesday, which seeks to operate six restaurants through Dec. 27 before closing them permanently, Isabella argues that the local and national media relentlessly threw shade on his business operations even after he agreed to a confidential settlement in May with former Isabella Eatery manager, Chloe Caras, who sued for “extraordinary sexual harassment.”
