Gordon Ramsay Claims $1M/Year Lease Signature Forged

Time to check in with the ongoing legal shitstorm raging between Gordon Ramsay and his father-in-law/former business partner Chris Hutcheson. This time, Ramsay claims Hutcheson used an autopen — those machines that automatically write signatures for celebrities on Christmas cards or, say, inside cookbooks — to forge Ramsay's signature as a guarantor on a very pricy London lease. According to the Independent, back in 2007 Gordon Ramsay Holdings won a bidding war on a historic property in a posh London neighborhood: the York & Albany Pub, where Ramsay currently has a hotel, bar and restaurant. And a 25-year, £640,000 (US about $981,696) annual lease.

Ramsay has filed a high court claim claiming he was not aware he was listed as guarantor on the lease. And where was he when all this went down back in 2007? "Advancing his public reputation," and apparently not paying attention to leases his company acquired.

The owner of the property believes Ramsay is just trying to get the rent reduced, and there has been no criminal investigation into the matter. Last time Hutcheson's name popped up in the news, the court had denied him the right to dissolve Ramsay's restaurant empire. Things started to sour between the two men back in 2010 when Ramsay barred Hutcheson from the offices of Gordon Ramsay Holdings over a variety of legal disputes.

· Ramsay Claims 'Ghost Writer' Signed Rent Guarantee [Indepedent]
· All Gordon Ramsay Coverage on Eater [-E-]