Chef Rachel Klein, who abruptly - at least to the public - left the exotic OM Restaurant & Lounge in Harvard Square in December after bringing it much acclaim, is settling in as executive chef at the Seaport Hotel’s Aura restaurant and new Tamo Bar.

The now-larger and renovated Aura had a soft reopening last week with Klein’s new global, Asian-influenced menu and steakhouse offerings.

But the more interesting story may lie in Klein’s unceremonious departure from OM along with that of general manager Donnie Simon. Klein was the opening chef when the restaurant, with its lavish Tibetan-inspired decor, debuted in early 2006. Her decampment followed accolades, including Boston Magazine’s Best New Chef in 2006 and Esquire Magazine’s 2006 Top 25 Best New Restaurants in America. Conde Nast Traveler magazine also named OM to its 2006 “Hot List” as one of the world’s 25 most alluring nights on the town.

Klein is taking the diplomatic route, saying she has “certain core values that I like to keep around me and maintain, and it was just time to move on.” She declined further comment.

To hear OM co-owner Solmon Chowdhury tell it, Klein simply left for her current position, while Simon was let go and now is spewing venom.

But Simon, backed up by other sources, tells another story. It’s one of two young restaurateurs, Chowdhury and partner Bikram Yonjan - named by Stuff@Night Magazine as two of the most influential players in Boston’s entertainment industry - who bit off more than they could chew and ran into financial problems.

“By the 12th of December, (Chowdhury and Yonjan) sat both of us down and told us there was no money to pay either of us,” Simon said.

Yonjan, who owns 45 percent of OM and traveled to Thailand, Indonesia and Nepal to outfit it, has since filed for personal bankruptcy with at least $79,258 in debt and just $269 in the bank, even though he claims monthly income of $26,535, according to court filings. He plans to “walk away” from the restaurant and seek a job as an engineer, the court documents state. Deutsche Bank won court approval to foreclose on a Somerville two-family home owned by Yonjan, and court documents filed in March point to a pending eviction process against OM from its Cambridge location. Yonjan could not be reached for comment.

Simon joined OM in September and says he soon discovered the financial troubles. The restaurant was in arrears with vendors, and back taxes are owed to the state.

Chowdhury maintains that talk of OM financial problems is “not really accurate.”

“Every business has a slow season and a busy season,” he said. “I don’t think we have any financial problems. We let (Simon) go, so he’s basically bad-mouthing us.”

Simon says he and Klein believed that money was being used from OM each month to prop up Chowdhury and Yonjan’s ailing and short-lived Rendang restaurant in the same building.

Simon and Klein decided to increase OM’s focus on corporate sales and private parties to lure in more business.

“Because of the switch in the business model, our sales in November were higher than they were in the previous year, and the profit margin also was a lot better,” Simon said. “The first week of November, the gross profit was $39,000 and change, but they kept telling us that we were losing $30,000 to $40,000 a month.”

OM brought in $2.5 million in annual sales, according to Simon, who said food and labor costs were in line and liquor costs were coming into line. “We were working and running the restaurant in the manner that it should be run,” he said. “We both had great track records and experience to back up what we brought to the table.”

But things got grim in December. OM went into the holiday season short-staffed and was having trouble holding on to employees, Simon said. Tip payouts were changed from nightly to weekly, and the checks didn’t clear the bank. Simon and Klein also said they had problems cashing their paychecks.