The owner and manager of The French Gourmet restaurant have both pleaded guilty to charges involving the hiring of undocumented workers. Meanwhile, the restaurant has agreed to forfeit $350,000 to the U.S. government as a penalty. Owner Michel Francois Malecot, 59, and manager Richard Kauffmann, 58, will be sentenced Dec. 19 by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Whelan. Malecot and Kauffmann remain free on $75,000 and $60,000 bond, respectively. Kauffmann pleaded guilty on behalf of the restaurant on Oct. 13 to hiring 10 illegal aliens. Kauffmann faces a maximum term of five years in federal prison because off alleged prior hirings of the same nature. Meanwhile, Malecot signed a document that allows federal prosecutors to seek between $350,000 and $650,000 in criminal forfeiture. Malecot pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of “a pattern and practice of continuing to employ illegal aliens,” according documents from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Malecot could receive a sentence of six months in federal prison, said his lawyer, Eugene Iredale. “We feel the restaurant can survive if forfeiture is set at $350,000, but not more than that,” said Iredale, who also represents the restaurant. “It employs over 100 U.S. citizens.” Iredale said some of the undocumented workers “were longtime employees” and the owner did not want to fire them just because of their immigration status. Other undocumented workers misrepresented their status to Malecot when they were hired, Iredale said. Malecot has owned the Turquoise Avenue restaurant for 32 years. Kauffmann has worked there for 28 years. Charges of conspiracy and harboring illegal aliens will be dismissed during the sentencing, said court officials. When charges were first filed in April 2010, prosecutors initially said they would seek forfeiture of the restaurant and the property itself but later revised that to a forfeiture range between $350,000 and $650,000. The former Immigration and Naturalization Service fined the restaurant in the 1990s for employing undocumented workers, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The restaurant received letters in 2005 and 2006 from the Social Security Administration that several employees’ names did not match Social Security numbers.