Less than two months after Roberto Donna reopened his flagship restaurant, Galileo III, the renowned Washington restaurateur has been served another enormous helping of trouble. A federal judge on Friday ordered the Italian chef to pay $527,000 in back pay, damages and legal fees to 12 workers who sued him for violating labor laws over nearly two decades.  In a 46-page opinion, Chief U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth wrote that Donna and his companies "consistently failed to abide by their duties" in failing to pay overtime, misstating the number of hours worked and rarely paying workers on time at Galileo, the upscale District dining room that closed in 2006, and at Bebo Trattoria, a Crystal City restaurant that was shuttered in April 2009.

Donna "engaged in a persistent and widespread practice of issuing checks without signatures, issuing post-dated checks, and issuing checks despite insufficient funds," the judge wrote. When they were paid, workers "stopped cashing paychecks because they often bounced." By not keeping enough cash on hand after each shift, the defendants also withheld large portions of workers' credit card tips, Lamberth wrote.  A hostess at Galileo III, which opened Oct. 4, said Donna was in the kitchen and not available to comment. "He's cooking away," she said. "We have a very busy lunch." Donna did not respond to a message left with the hostess.

Friday's ruling was the second blow delivered to the James Beard Award-winning chef in the past month. On Nov. 4, he pleaded guilty to felony embezzlement in Arlington County Circuit Court after collecting meal taxes at Bebo but neglecting to turn them over to the state. He received a five-year suspended sentence - and a bill of $375,439.56.