A French chef has mysteriously died after making a frantic phone call to his wife and putting down $200,000 for their dream life in New York City.
François-Tanguy Olivon, 34, was found dead after security footage saw him fall from a bridge in Bayonne, France.
Olivon and his wife, Manon, had made plans to relocate from France to New York City with their children. They had invested a substantial amount of money to launch their own chain of restaurants called Chez Fanfan in SoHo.
But while on vacation in the south of France, Olivon mysteriously disappeared after making a frantic call to his wife at 1am on February 22.
‘He was shouting at me for help, to come and get him right away,’ Manon said, according to Sud Ouest, a French media outlet.
Manon took to Facebook to share that Olivon, after being visibly intoxicated and by himself, claimed to be in danger and had been assaulted by multiple individuals.
However, she never spoke to her husband again and he was spotted by a passerby in a ‘completely torn’ t-shirt on the night he disappeared.
CCTV saw him falling from the bridge, and his body was pulled from the Adour River 12 days later.
François-Tanguy Olivon, 34, was found dead after security footage saw him fall from a bridge in Bayonne, France
Expressing their deep connection as a family filled with affection and aspirations, Manon wrote about the exceptional qualities of François-Tanguy as a devoted father and husband. She described him as a compassionate individual who always prioritized the well-being of others.
‘Today, I am not writing to a landlord – I am writing to a man. A man who, I hope can look beyond clauses and figures and understand that sometimes, life puts us through unimaginable trials that we cannot face alone,’ Manon wrote to their landlord in NYC
They’re expected dream life in NYC, however, was brought to a tragic end upon his death.
The pair had placed a $166,00 deposit and $47,500 for two months’ worth of rent for January and February, Manon told the New York Post.
‘Everything was ready – the location, the preparations – but not, this dream will never come true,’ she wrote on her GoFundMe page, created in hopes of supporting her children.
Being on her own with her two young children, Manon felt that their dream was ‘simply impossible.’
She informed the landlord, whom they had sent the rent payments to, of her husband’s death in a letter on March 1.
She asked the landlord, Robert Moskowitz, owner of Only Properties LLC based in New York, for at least a portion of the money they had put down back.
‘Today, I am not writing to a landlord – I am writing to a man. A man who, I hope can look beyond clauses and figures and understand that sometimes, life puts us through unimaginable trials that we cannot face alone,’ she wrote.
‘If you cannot return the full amount, then I bed you to at least return one month’s rent. It would be an immense help to me and my children.’
‘He was shouting at me for help, to come and get him right away,’ Manon said
Olivon and his wife, Manon, had planned to move from France with their children to New York City, where they had laid a large sum of money to open their own restaurant chain, Chez Fanfan in SoHo
Not only were her pleas were refused, Manon was threatened to be held accountable for the entire 10-year lease, at a total of $3 million, unless she signed a ‘surrender agreement.’
‘Refusing to sign the surrender agreement will not result in a return of your security deposit, but it will result in you being held fully responsible for all of the obligations set forth in the parties’ lease agreement,’ Only Properties attorney Nicole Waknine wrote to Manon, the Post reported.
Moskowitz’s attorney did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
Manon signed the surrender agreement, but their ‘entire life savings’ had been funneled into their dream life in NYC.
‘I don’t have anything. I don’t have a house anymore because we sold it a while ago to move to New York. I no longer have a car either. I no longer have a job because my husband and I have sold our… restaurant in Brittany,’ Manon wrote to the Post.
‘Leaving me with no resourced while I struggle to secure a future for my children,’ she wrote.
‘I have to start from scratch – without my husband, without our dream, and with two young children depending on me.’
Manon hopes the fundraiser will help her navigate raising her children after the loss of their father and most of their life savings as well as cover the costs related to his passing.
‘We were a close-knit family, full of love and dreams. François-Tanguy was an exceptional father and husband, a kindhearted man who always put others before himself,’ Manon wrote.
‘Now, Rose (4 years old), Ethan (8 years old), and I must find a way forward without him, but the reality is devastating.’
‘Although this support represents only a fraction of what we had invested to start a new life, it will help me navigate this hardship with a little more peace of mind and provide Rose and Ethan with some much-needed stability.’
