UPDATE: Additional comments from Hagan added regarding allegations.
Lawyers representing the former Acadia employee, who accuses chef Ryan McCaskey of an online harassment campaign, say a website used to tarnish their client’s reputation has been registered for a man who works at McCaskey’s restaurants worked in Chicago and Maine. Former Acadia service attorneys Cody Nason said during a Friday hearing that representatives of GoDaddy told them that CodyNason.com was registered with Corby Hagan, who last joined McCaskey in 2019 in Maine at Acadia Provisions as CEO of the restaurant worked.
The website was central to Nason’s request for a “no-contact” order against McCaskey. Nason filed the request in September after he and his attorney, Daliah Saper, received harassing messages from an anonymous email account that they believe was actually McCaskey. McCaskey denies that he did so, and denies all other offenses related to the case.
Nason and McCaskey attended the court hearing Friday with Cook County Judge Thomas Cushing presiding. According to Saper, GoDaddy said that a credit card with the name of Hagan was used to secure the domain ‘CodyNason.com’. According to Saper, Hagan told her team that the credit card did not belong to him. Saper is filing a subpoena with Visa (and Hagan) and is asking the credit card company to verify Hagan’s claim.
Hagan told Eater Chicago that he “had nothing to do with any credit card used on the site” and that he “did not register the site”. He adds that he did not speak to Saper or any lawyers connected to the case. He confirmed that he worked in McCaskey’s restaurant in Chicago in 2017 and in Maine in 2019 – the state where McCaskey currently resides. He added that he had not seen McCaskey since 2019, that is before the relevant website was launched in the summer of 2020. Hagan also said he worked with Nason at the Maine restaurant and filed the allegations in a counterclaim by McCaskey. The lawsuit, filed in November, was fired from Acadia for allegedly “abusing alcohol.” Friday, three former Acadia workers. tells Eater Chicago that Hagan and McCaskey were close by and that it would not surprise them if he joined his former boss.
The conclusion was disputed by Hagan, who said he had short periods at both Acadia locations. He also reiterated that he has not seen McCaskey since 2019.
CodyNason.com contained photos and text claiming Nason was a pedophile and referring to his deceased brother. Nason claims that his former boss McCaskey found out he was one of the workers who provided information for Instagram posts that were critical of their former boss. This led to McCaskey taking revenge by creating the website and sending anonymous emails, according to court documents filed by Nason’s attorneys.
During Friday’s court hearing, one of McCaskey’s two lawyers – Roger Malavia – suggested that Hagan’s alleged involvement would mean that his client was not responsible for the website. Judge Cushing warned Malavia that spreading Saper’s words had no legal effect on the outcome of the trial.
This is another twist in the case against McCaskey, the chef and owner of Acadia, a 10-year-old Michelin-starred restaurant in South Loop, Chicago. This summer, a group of former McCaskey workers shared the allegations of a toxic work environment at Acadia, using Instagram to post their reports of abuse. Unverified allegations were published on an Instagram handle that put together the stories of service workers. @ The86dList originated after the George Floyd protest over the summer and has since gone dark without a post since late July. Eater Chicago spoke with several members of the industry – including former Acadia workers and public relations representatives – who confirmed some of the stories posted online.
In court, Saper said her team sent subpoenas to digital companies Yelp, GoDaddy and Microsoft. The attorneys hope the companies can provide information to explain if McCaskey was behind the site that was posted in July to destroy their client’s reputation.
Acadia has remained closed since the summer, but McCaskey tells Eater Chicago that he plans to eventually reopen.
The next court date is scheduled for March 10.