Meghan Markle and Prince Harry may need to be more careful about the people they associate with or the businesses they endorse, as it has come to light that one of their favorite restaurant owners is facing fraud charges.
The Duchess of Sussex faced a setback when the premiere of her upcoming Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, was postponed from January 15 to March 4 due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.
Now, DailyMail.com has reported that the new release date coincides with the legal proceedings of Alison Clem, a Michelin-starred restaurateur whom the couple publicly supported during a visit to her restaurant in Texas last March.
Clem, 43, who owns La Barbecue in Austin, is facing felony charges for a $350,000 insurance fraud scheme involving an employee’s on-the-job injury, according to legal filings.
Meghan, 43, and Harry, 40, were seen rubbing elbows with Clem at the popular BBQ joint where they had stopped for a meal and a photo-op while they were in town for the SXSW festival where the duchess appeared on a star-studded panel discussing cyber-bullying alongside Brooke Shields and Katie Couric.
It wasn’t just a quick in-and-out visit. Clem’s eatery had been specifically chosen for their public appearance where the couple were pictured chatting with the restaurateur and giving her a warm embrace.
In a series of photos shared on social media at the time, Clem can be seen in conversation with the royals, who also posed for a picture with all the staff. They were shown around the restaurant’s building including the exterior.
People magazine reported that the visit was planned and pre-approved by the restaurant.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embraced Texas restauranteur Alison Clem during a visit to her popular Austin eatery, La Barbecue, in March 2024
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were seen chatting at the BBQ joint with the Michelin-starred owner, who is now caught up in an insurance fraud scheme, DailyMail.com has learned
The couple, whose visit to the restaurant was reportedly pre-planned, later complimented the owner and said it was the best BBQ they had ever had
‘Their visit was a scheduled thing. They let us know that she wanted to come by, but did not know Harry was coming,’ the restaurant’s director of operations Cory Rivademar told the magazine at the time.
‘They came in and they toured the pits with Frankie, who is the pit guy, and talked about how hot it was around the pits, which is funny because this is Texas, and actually, it can be much hotter than today.’
After the visit, Rivademar apparently received a text from Meghan’s representatives saying that it was the best BBQ they’d ever eaten.
In November, Clem’s diner was awarded a Michelin Star for its Texas-style barbecue, with the restaurant’s website claiming that she is one of the ‘top barbecue chefs in the world’.
While that sort of culinary expertise would especially appeal to Meghan, 43, it appears that they didn’t do a full background check on Clem.
Otherwise it would have come to light that she had been indicted for a $350,000 workers’ compensation fraud scheme.
The charges are related to a personal injury lawsuit filed by employee Aaron Gomez who lost four fingers on his dominant left hand while operating a piece of kitchen equipment in July 2016.
At the time of the accident, Clem and her co-founder wife, LeAnne Mueller – who died in June aged 52 – had been operating without workers’ insurance coverage for 20 months, according to legal filings obtained by DailyMail.com.
Clem is facing charges related to an on-the-job injury involving employee Aaron Gomez in 2016
Meghan and Harry posed for a picture with all the staff, and were given a tour around the restaurant during their high-profile visit
Gomez lost four fingers on his dominant left hand while operating a piece of kitchen equipment in July 2016
Following Gomez’s injury, Clem contacted Paychex Insurance to obtain workers’ compensation coverage and asked for it to be backdated to three weeks before the accident occurred, according to an indictment filed by the Texas Department of Insurance.
Mueller allegedly signed the application claiming the business had no previous losses and did not disclose Gomez’s accident.
At a later date, Mueller and Clem claimed for the injury, and it was approved by the the policy’s insurers, Travelers Casualty Insurance Company of America, who awarded $350,000 to Gomez in compensation and became responsible for the care of his injury for the rest of his life.
They were indicted in August 2022 on a felony charge of insurance fraud and it has been going through the courts ever since.
An arraignment hearing is scheduled for March.
If found guilty by Travis County District Court, Clem will be liable to pay restitution plus double what Travelers dished out to Gomez, so $700,000, according to a Texas Department of Insurance news release.
In a separate lawsuit, Gomez personally filed a complaint against Clem and her firm GGG Ventures LLC in October 2023 claiming that the incident happened ‘due to unsafe working conditions and training’. The case is ongoing.
Meanwhile, Meghan last week announced she was postponing the debut of her Netflix series by nearly two months from January 15.
Markle reportedly found the decision to postpone her Netflix cooking show With Love, Meghan due to the LA fires an ‘easy’ one
Meghan Markle has pushed the release of her new Netflix show to March 4 due to the LA wildfires
‘I’m thankful to my partners at Netflix for supporting me in delaying the launch, as we focus on the needs of those impacted by the wildfires in my home state of California,’ she said in a statement.
The couple have had a rough few weeks. They were slammed in a Vanity Fair article for allegedly bullying staff and trying to make money from everything they do.
One neighbor in Montecito called the couple the ‘most entitled, disingenuous people on the planet’.
And another local told Vanity Fair: ‘They moved away from England to get away from the scrutiny of the press and all they do is try and get in the press in the United States.’
Just a few days before that article was published, Meghan and Harry were spotted at an LA evacuation center handing out food packages and speaking to survivors of the wildfires.
The two, however, were later accused of being ‘disaster tourists’ by Hollywood actress Justine Bateman who claimed on X that the couple were only there for the ‘photo op’.
The Duke and Duchess reportedly found the comments ‘offensive’, according to sources who noted that Meghan was ‘heartbroken’ by the disaster as an LA native.
A source told Page Six: ‘It’s offensive to Meghan and Harry that anybody would think this is merely a photo opportunity.
‘Meghan was born and raised in Los Angeles so this is, and always will be, home to her.’
