Award-winning chef Lidia Bastianich is accused in a lawsuit of tricking a woman she hired as a chef to work round-the-clock caring for her elderly friend.
The $5 million suit was filed in Manhattan on Thursday by Maria Carmela Farina, a chef from Italy.
Her lawyer, Paul Catsandonis, told the Daily News (http://nydn.us/pSs3wP ) that Bastianich handled Farina's immigration papers and promised her a $600-a-week kitchen job.
Instead, court papers say, Farina was forced to work as a personal live-in assistant to Bastianich's aging friend from 2006 until he died in December at age 105.
A Bastianich spokeswoman didn't return calls for comment.
Catsandonis said Farina wasn't paid for years of work and is destitute.
The suit says Farina was led to believe she'd be preparing dishes for Bastianich's television shows.