In his prime, Richie Akiva held court almost every night at one of his nightclubs (1OAK, Butter, Up & Down, a regular at Page Six in its heyday), surrounded by the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jay-Z, Rihanna, and Paris Hilton.
He wasn’t just a club owner. He was a fun guy to host parties. He knew how to make everything super classy and make celebrities feel happy and protected. He was one of Leo’s best friends. He was even romantically involved with Heidi Klum at one point.
“At the end of the day, there aren’t many people in the hospitality industry who can pick up the phone and call Rihanna or Jay-Z. Anyone would answer his call,” a nightlife insider who knew Akiva told Page Six.
It became even more shocking last week when Akiva, 49, was arrested for allegedly beating his longtime friend, entertainment executive Michael Moriatti, with a metal pipe.
“He’s very depressed right now,” a nightlife source said of Akiva.
As Page Six’s Carlos Greer previously reported, Akiva and his alleged henchman Justin Brown, who was allegedly a security guard at Up & Down, are believed to have entered the SoHo home on January 7. Mr Moriatti was hit in the head with a pipe while he was sleeping in bed, leaving him with a broken nose and injuries to his shoulder and leg, according to insiders.
Mr. Akiva and Mr. Brown are also reportedly accused of blackmailing Mr. Moriatti into sending money through an app over a dispute over a painting.
Akiva has pleaded not guilty to charges of robbery and assault and was released on $50,000 bail, but denied the charges to Page Six.
A representative for Mr Ritchie said: “Mr Ritchie fully welcomes and supports a thorough investigation into this matter and is confident that the full truth will prevail.”
Indeed, those in clubland find it hard to believe.
“In all the years I’ve known him, I’ve never heard of an incident like this,” another industry insider told Page Six. “I don’t think it’s him. He’s a good guy. I’m just as shocked and scared and just panicked as everyone else.”
But nightlife insiders say Akiba is also struggling with other issues, including how to remain relevant as it turns 50 and faces an evolving scene.
“I truly believe that Richie has a big heart and is a good person,” a nightlife source said. “I think he’s just a little lost right now. He made some bad choices.”
In the ’10s, few people did as well as Akiva and his partners.
Akiva grew up in Tribeca, attended the private Dwight School on the Upper West Side, befriended the kids of A-listers like Liv Tyler and Rafael De Niro, and broke onto the club kid scene before working in party promotion.
Sources say he always had a knack for making celebrities feel comfortable, but never forgot that they were stars.
“He’s very charming. He’s the best networking promoter in the world. He knows how to approach A-list people, like celebrities and models, and he’s good at maintaining relationships with them,” said an industry source.
That came in handy in 2002 when he and business partner Scott Sartiano opened Butter, a nightclub-like SoHo restaurant that served as the backdrop for the show “Gossip Girl.”
In 2007, Akiva and Sartiano opened 1OAK (a clever abbreviation for one of a kind). This came to define the era of bottle service, and it looked like the pages of US Weekly had come to life. Drake, Jay Z, Pharrell Williams, Justin Bieber, Lenny Kravitz, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan all sat on ostrich leather banquettes. Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter celebrate their 2009 World Series victory at 1OAK. Matt Harvey infamously partied here the night before he didn’t show up to a Mets game in 2017.
Then came Up & Down, The Derby and G Spa.
An industry insider said of Akiba, “He’s a very confident person. He’s not afraid of anything. He has a secret sauce.”
At its peak, Akiva and Sartiano’s Butter Group reportedly earned $50 million a year, with hotspots in New York, London, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Tokyo, and Dubai.
But nightlife is a fickle industry, and no one can stay hooked forever. And over the past few years, Akiba has experienced a surprising number of setbacks.
In 2018, four years after selling his stake in Butter Group, Sartiano sued Akiva for $15 million, accusing him of lying, according to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleges that 1OAK and Up & Down claimed to be cash cows and persuaded Mr. Sartiano to buy out Mr. Akiba with a series of low payments between 2015 and 2017.
Akvia then sold Sartiano’s shares to Canadian entertainment mogul Darryl Katz for $60 million, the lawsuit alleges.
Akiba hid the eight-figure deal at the time because it “contradicted reports to investors that some of his clubs, including 1OAK NYC and Up and Down, were in financial distress and losing money,” the suit says.
The lawsuit was dismissed in January last year.
Nightlife insiders say Akiva struggled because it didn’t have a suitable business partner.
“He’s not necessarily a businessman. He wants to show up with celebrities, he wants to party, he wants to organize his room, he wants to have fun. He doesn’t want to be in an office, he doesn’t want to do paperwork, he doesn’t want to deal with lawyers,” the source claimed. “That’s not his expertise.
“If someone doesn’t want to do it, that’s okay. Just hire someone to do it for you.”
Also in 2018, Akiva and celebrity chef Mark Forgione announced plans to open Restaurant Davide, an 11,000-square-foot “club restaurant” in the Meatpacking District. But the project was delayed and ultimately scrapped during the pandemic.
A year later, he tried his hand at fitness at the upscale gym BIA Force in NoHo, but it was short-lived.
His 1OAK was evicted from his home in the Meatpacking District in 2022, and Akiva’s 17th Street Entertainment LLC was hit with a bill for $1.8 million in unpaid rent due to pandemic lockdowns. (“The matter was resolved and the funds were ultimately recovered,” a representative for Akiva told Page Six. The lawsuit was dropped in February 2019.)
Akiba vowed to 1OAK that he would “come back with all his might,” but that didn’t happen.
“Up & Down,” once a popular late-night show for Rihanna, fell victim to the pandemic and shut down in 2021.
The Ned, a private club that Akiva launched in 2022 with investor Ron Burkle and Soho House founder Nick Jones, lost its liquor license a year later and lost its luster with celebrities including Emily Ratajkowski and DiCaprio. In February 2024, Page Six reported that Akiba, who was the brand and creative director, resigned due to financial troubles.
“He does a great job with the hip-hop and Leo crowds. It’s not aimed at what The Ned did,” said an industry insider.
An Akiba representative said: “Richie has been bound by strict non-competes in recent years after selling half of his company two years before the coronavirus pandemic, which has prevented him from operating a traditional hospitality business in any meaningful way or using the 1OAK name.”
Nightlife insiders blamed several issues for Akiva’s tendency to become unresponsive.
“He doesn’t answer calls, he doesn’t reply to emails, he doesn’t reply to texts. You have to chase and chase. The people who work with him are really tired of it. Even though he didn’t mean to be rude, it feels really disrespectful,” the nightlife insider said. “That’s where Ron Burkle and the businessmen have a tough time with him.”
Page Six has reached out to Burkle for comment.
Akiba had hoped to make a big comeback by opening a club in the former Canal Room space in Tribeca, but the deal never materialized, according to people familiar with the matter.
In 2023, Page Six reported that there was “bad blood” between Akiva and former Butter Group business partner Darren Zienciol, which resulted in the two hosting competing parties at the Cannes Film Festival.
Sources also said Akiva’s old bread and butter feels stale at the moment. Gen Z doesn’t drink as much as older generations, and they tend to turn their noses up at the swagger of bottle service.
They say Akiva is currently trying to figure out where he fits into the New York nightclub landscape and how to get back on his feet.
“Ritchie’s reputation as one of the most connected figures in the fields of nightlife, fashion and culture is well known, and it is matched by how personally invested he is in those around him,” Akiva’s rep told Page Six.
And sources say Akiva should not be ruled out yet.
“He’s very depressed right now… but he’ll bounce back,” a nightlife source said of Akiva. “He’s a violent man.”
