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Less than two weeks before she planned to have her wedding, an eviction sign greeted Marlene Taverez on the door of Rigatti Terrace. The landlord, Cozy Lanes Bowling, claimed that for months their tenant Dennis Rigatti hadn't paid his rent in full, forcing them to start eviction proceedings with the Queens Civil Court.

"Obviously, he knew when I booked in January that he was going to be closed down," said Taverez.

The court hadn't yet sent Rigatti a notice of the eviction proceedings when he took Taverez's $500 deposit in January. But the court had notified him of his court date -- for which he did not appear -- well before he accepted a $1,000 payment from Taverez at the end of March. An employee also accepted two other payments in April -- a total of $3,000 of the $4,000 Taverez paid Rigatti without ever receiving anything in return.

"He never, did not say any word to me, my husband, or any other clients. I mean, I even walked in there a couple times putting deposits down and he had other clients he was taking money from," said Tavarez.

Two of Rigatti's other clients emailed NY1 after the story first aired. Both viewers had given Rigatti deposits and then had to find different venues for their events. Neither received refunds, even though Rigatti was already directing business to Krystal Hall in Richmond Hill.

After leaving numerous unreturned calls, NY1 tried to talk to Rigatti face-to-face inside Krystal Hall. Although the lights were on and someone was inside, nobody came out to speak.

"NY1 For You" will continue to follow the story.