New Suit Targets ‘Frugal Gourmet’

A man who withdrew from a sex-abuse lawsuit last fall against television chef Jeff Smith has now gone ahead and filed his own action in court.

The lawsuit by Clint Smith alleges Jeff Smith, no relation, raped and molested him when he was a teenage employee at Smith’s Tacoma restaurant 20 years ago.

The suit, filed this week in Pierce County Superior Court, is the second accusing Jeff Smith, known as the “Frugal Gourmet,” of sexual assault against his former employees.

Jeff Smith’s lawyer, Ed Winskill, said the new suit contains no allegations that weren’t already made in the prior suit from which Clint Smith withdrew last fall.

“We deny all of his allegations,” said Winskill.

Jeff Smith’s lawyers have noted that Clint Smith served time in prison for stealing money from their client.

Clint Smith alleges in the new suit that Jeff Smith agreed to a private monetary settlement with him in 1990 over the alleged assaults, but failed to pay him all of the money.

Jeff Smith, a former University of Puget Sound chaplain, has denied any such agreements.