Acclaimed chef Seppe Nobels (44) under fire over embezzlement and drug dealing
Seppe Nobels, known from restaurant Instroom and VRT programmes, is suspected of siphoning money through his non-profit organisation and ordering drugs via encrypted messages.
Acclaimed chef Seppe Nobels (44) under fire over embezzlement and drug dealing
The unblemished reputation of Seppe Nobels (44) is crumbling. The Antwerp chef, who made a name for himself with vegetables, is suspected of embezzling funds through his own organisation. He is also said to have ordered cocaine via encrypted communication. This emerges from an investigation by De Morgen, which is being picked up by Het Belang van Limburg.
Nobels built a strong reputation as a vegetable chef. He received a Green Michelin star, prepared meals for the royal couple during a trip to India, and won an Emmy with a television series on young-onset dementia. Since 2021, he has run Instroom on Linkeroever, where he is supposed to help asylum seekers and non-native speakers find work through cooking lessons.
Behind that social façade, however, another story is said to lie. Staff say that course participants received insufficient wages. Money from the non-profit organisation UnitedWe is said to have disappeared into the chef's own pockets. For example, a detoxification treatment in Thailand is said to have been financed not by family but by the organisation.
The drugs issue is even more serious. Last year, a case against the group 'Montana' ended up in court in the Scheldt city. In the process, messages came to light in which someone asked for "three cauliflowers and a white cabbage". That person is said to be Nobels himself. He is also said to have asked about "tomatoes" and said: "How much longer bro, because I'm really hungry". Former staff members claim that the chef had struggled with addiction to alcohol and narcotics for years.
The chef himself dismisses all allegations. He calls it a "smear campaign". The Antwerp public prosecutor's office is said to have opened a file on the matter.
The revelations involve a man who was once elevated to Commander in the Order of the Crown by King Filip.
Source: Het Belang van Limburg