The bad-paying sommelier would have sold tickets for fake shows

After the fake wine tastings and the multiple excuses to avoid paying her employees and suppliers, the sommelier Catherine Levasseur allegedly sold tickets for shows by comedians, including Mario Tessier, without the latter even having signed a contract.

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Mario Tessier, Jean-Claude Gélinas and Mélanie Couture have become, in spite of themselves, the headliners of shows which never took place, but which had been announced in recent months at the restaurant-bar La Coupe, in Varennes, an establishment which then belonged to Catherine Levasseur.

Our Bureau of Investigation revealed at the end of May that this sommelier had opened and closed three restaurants during the pandemic, each time leaving unpaid bills and wages. Civil lawsuits have been filed against her and more than twenty people are now claiming considerable sums from her.

A fourth restaurant is now added to this list. In October 2022, Catherine Levasseur bought the business of La Coupe, located in the Sportplex de l’Énergie (see other text). After a grand opening night and the announcement of several artist performances scheduled for early 2023, things are turning sour.

Catherine Levasseur would have put tickets on sale for various comedy and music shows on the Eventbrite platform. The only downside: artists had not been officially hired to perform there.

“People had paid! They were showing up here, Catherine Levasseur had disappeared and I couldn’t reimburse them: I didn’t have their money!” Plague Josée Beauchemin, one of the owners of the SportPlex de l’Énergie, in Varennes, who hosted in its complex the resto-bar run by the sommelier.

No contract

According to the promotion made by Catherine Levasseur, Mario Tessier was to perform at La Coupe on March 23. However, the comedian never received the signed contract or the cash deposit before the tickets went on sale, confirms his agent.

Same story for host and humorist Jean-Claude Gélinas, whose show was announced on March 30, as well as for Mélanie Couture, on display on April 27.

“We had not received the deposit or the contract, but [Catherine Levasseur] had already started the sale! What normally, by contract, she is not supposed to do, ”explains the manager of Mélanie Couture, François Simard.

Customers cheated

None of these artists received any money in this affair, confirm their agents. Mike Brossard, who represents Jean-Claude Gélinas, even claims to have made a formal request to La Coupe for the ticket office to close and for people to be reimbursed.

“But the show is still on sale on Evenbrite. We never knew how many people had bought tickets, ”laments the manager of Jean-Claude Gélinas.

Customers who ended up with tickets to bogus shows have filed refund requests with Eventbrite. Some have been reimbursed, others are still pending, according to our information.

The Eventbrite account of La Coupe was directly associated with the bank account of the sommelier, assures Nathalie Durocher, an employee of the restaurant-bar who worked for a few weeks for the sommelier.

Neither Eventbrite nor Catherine Levasseur responded to our interview requests.

A bouncing check

The group Tribute to Bon Jovi performed well on the stage of the resto-bar La Coupe, directed by Catherine Levasseur, on March 11th. But when it came time to cash the check… it bounced.

“We called several times, we left messages, but we never heard back,” says drummer Jean-Patrice Leroux.

The formation did not receive a penny of its fee, which was around $2,000. However, several tickets had been sold for this concert at $33.28 each, on the Eventbrite platform.

“It was a beautiful evening, the show had been good. But we never had a follow-up, ”continues Mr. Leroux.

The drummer also went to a police station to denounce the situation. However, the authorities would have directed him to small claims if he wanted to take the case to court.

“We got rolled in the flour”

One of the owners of the SportPlex de l’Énergie, in Varennes, claims to have a “shitty life” since Catherine Levasseur crossed her path.

“We got rolled in the flour, solid”, plague Josée Beauchemin who “rolled out the red carpet” to Catherine Levasseur so that she operates La Coupe, the restaurant of her sports complex.

Mortgage of $180,000 to finance the business, loan of $23,000 to help start up, free rent for the first months of activity: the SportPlex de l’Énergie did everything to facilitate the arrival of the sommelier in its establishment in the fall of 2022.

“But she paid the first rent … and after that she no longer paid”, plague M^me Beauchemin, who quickly realized that supplier invoices also remained unpaid.

The sommelier would then have become increasingly difficult to reach and less and less present in the restaurant, which was often closed. Catherine Levasseur would have invoked various pretexts – her mother was ill, then died, then the restaurateur was nauseous – to justify herself.

“She was not in operation, she was not selling. We knew very well that she would not be able to pay”, deplores M^me Beauchemin, who also realized that his tenant had not taken steps to obtain the necessary permits for his commercial activity.

“She didn’t have a valid liquor license, no authorization from the City of Varennes, she didn’t have a MAPAQ license,” says Josée Beauchemin, discouraged.

At the end of its tether, the Sportplex retained the services of a lawyer and terminated Catherine Levasseur’s lease in the spring of 2023.

“And there, we realized that she had tried to sell on Marketplace the benches, the chairs, the ovens of the restaurant! She hadn’t paid a penny on the equipment, but she wanted to sell it,” giggles the businesswoman, who has just regained control of her restaurant.