Celebrity Chef Matthew Tivy Faces Child Porn Charges, Accused of Enticing Teenage Boy for Sex

His lawyer says he is innocent

By Corinne Heller Oct 09, 2015 5:18 PMTags
Chef Matthew TivyTheo Wargo/WireImage

Celebrity chef Matthew Tivy has been arrested and charged with sexual exploitation and enticement of a minor and receipt and distribution of child pornography, federal prosecutors say.

The 54-year-old man, who had appeared on episodes of the Food Network show Chef Du Jour and owns the New York City restaurant Cafe du Soleil, was taken into police custody on Thursday. His attorney, Glenn Hardy, says his client is innocent, NBC New York and AM New York reported.

In a statement posted on the website of the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York alleges that from December 2014, Tivy "initiated online communications" with a 14 or 15-year-old boy, "enticed" him to "engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct and then distributed these visual depictions to others online."

He was arraigned later on Thursday and is being held without bail.

"He basically said the two most important words: not guilty," Tivy's lawyer told AM New York. "And now it's up to the U.S. Attorney to prove their case."

The attorney also said the chef, who has a husband, has started therapy and "certainly understood the gravity of the situation," the outlet reported. 

"As alleged, Matthew Tivy took advantage of a minor for his own sexual gratification, even when he knew the minor was only in high school," Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in the statement. "He then allegedly shared the video he recorded of his encounter with others."

"As alleged, Tivy used a dating app to meet minors, even acknowledging their age on text messages after they met," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Diego Rodriquez said. "He then allegedly shared the sexually explicit videos of the minors with others through Internet sharing communities."

When asked how he explains the text messages and video, Tivy's lawyer told NBC New York, "That's something we have to investigate. He has no obligation to explain to me or the government what they're about, but that's something Matthew and I are going to work on."

Tivy faces a combined maximum sentence of 50 years in prison for one count of enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct and one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography, the statement said.

Tivy also facing charges in a separate case for allegedly having sex with a minor in March, court records show. After his arrest, federal investigators searched his phone to identify additional victims, AM New York reported. He's due in court to answer to both cases in November.