A deliveryman in New York has been accused of stealing $90,000 worth of cake. David Lliviganay, an employee of Lady M Confections, is said to have smuggled 1,020 of their cakes out of their Long Island City warehouse on dozens of occasions over the course of a few months.
The confections, like their popular Rabbit Stamp Signature Mille Crêpes, retail for $90 apiece, and have been raved about by the likes of Martha Stewart and Oprah. The New York Times Magazine once called that item in particular “at least the second-best cake in the city”.
Much like with any other high-priced luxury item, there was apparently a robust secondary black market for crêpes with little rabbits on them, a market opportunity that Lliviganay is alleged to have jumped on, according to a lawsuit filed by the company.
Lliviganay, who has pleaded guilty to petit larceny according to the New York Post, was captured on surveillance cameras walking in and out of warehouse freezers multiple times, smuggling the cakes in bags to his waiting car. The company said they did not notice the cakes had gone missing until they were made aware of them being sold for a discount outside of their normal business operations.
“Lady M takes great responsibility and pride when shipping our cakes to you,” the company says on its website. “Every order is hand-packed and handled with care so that it will arrive to your door in mint condition.”
“Lady M is not responsible for lost or stolen packages,” they note.
The company is seeking a return on the value of the purloined cakes, plus interest, and punitive damages.
