Two owners of a famous Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurant were sentenced to prison on Thursday for tax evasion.
Nicholas Lucidonio, 57, and Anthony Lucidonio Sr., 84, who owned and operated the South Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurant Tony Luke's, both had a “10-year history of defrauding the IRS.'' He was sentenced to 20 months in prison for conspiracy.to press release From the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The Lucidonios hid more than $8 million in cash they received from the IRS between 2006 and 2016, according to the release. They did so by “among other things, depositing only a portion of the cash they received into Tony Luke's business bank account and providing incomplete information to the accountant,” which resulted in the accountant being able to “finish Tony Luke's business bank account.” He ended up filing a “false tax return that substantially underreported his income and earnings.” ”
“The Lucidonios also committed employment tax fraud by paying employees 'off the books' in cash,” the release states. “To avoid detection, they paid most employees a portion of their wages 'on the books'.”
“The Lucidonios then paid the remaining wages in cash without withholding or paying any federal income, Social Security, or Medicare taxes to the IRS,” the release continued. “They did not report these cash salaries to their accountants, which led to their accountants preparing false quarterly employment tax returns and filing them with the IRS.”
According to the release, when a dispute began between the Lucidonios and someone else, they became concerned that their tax evasion scheme would be exposed. Because of their concerns, they “directed that prior year tax returns be amended to increase reported sales.”
The Lucidonios were also ordered to serve three years of supervised release, according to the release.Their plan cost the U.S. more than $1.3 million.
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