FOX Business host Larry Kudlow explains tax and economic policy on “Kudlow.”
The owners of the famous Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurant Tony Luke’s were sentenced to prison on Thursday for tax evasion for concealing more than $8 million over a 10-year period.
The owners, 57-year-old Nicholas Lucidonio and 84-year-old Anthony Lucidonio Sr., were each sentenced to 20 months in prison and three years of supervised release, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
The Lucidonio family owned and operated Tony Luke’s, a popular cheesesteak and sandwich shop in South Philadelphia.
According to court documents, from 2006 to 2016, the two hid receipts for more than $8 million in cash they received from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and deposited only a portion of the cash they received into the accounts of their restaurant businesses. was.
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The two owners of South Philadelphia’s Tony Luke’s were sentenced to 20 months in prison for a tax evasion scheme that hid $8 million from 2006 to 2016. (FOX 29 Philadelphia / Fox News)
The Justice Department said that depositing only a portion of the cash provided incomplete information to the company’s accountant, which caused the accountant to file false tax returns.
The Justice Department said the Lucidonios were also convicted of employment tax fraud in which they paid cash to employees “off the books.”
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The two owners of South Philadelphia’s Tony Luke’s were sentenced to 20 months in prison for a tax evasion scheme that hid $8 million from 2006 to 2016. (FOX 29 Philadelphia / Fox News)
Most employees were paid a portion of their book wages to avoid detection, and the rest of their wages was paid in cash, with no federal income, Social Security, or Medicare taxes owed to the IRS. .
According to the Justice Department, the Lucidonios failed to report their cash salaries to their accountant, which led to the accountant preparing false quarterly employment tax returns for the IRS.
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The two owners of South Philadelphia’s Tony Luke’s were sentenced to 20 months in prison for a tax evasion scheme that hid $8 million from 2006 to 2016. (FOX 29 Philadelphia / Fox News)
The issue became known in 2015 when the Lucidonios and another person got into a dispute over Tony Luke’s franchise rights.
During the dispute, the Lucidonios were concerned that their tax evasion scheme would be exposed, so they had previous years’ tax returns amended to show more reported sales, according to the Justice Department.
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Yet the two continued to conceal their payroll tax plans, resulting in a loss to the United States of $1,321,042.
