STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) - A Connecticut pizzeria owner has pleaded guilty to withholding more than $100,000 in taxes to the IRS.
Steven Cioffi entered his plea to aiding and abetting the filing of a false tax return.
The 32-year-old Stamford man owned 50 percent of the restaurant group that operates ReNapoli Pizza in Greenwich and Pinocchio Pizza in New York. He also owned 25 percent of Odell Pizza which operates a bar in Stamford.
Prosecutors say Cioffi and others removed cash from the restaurants’ registers and failed to deposit them in their operating bank accounts.
They say Cioffi also knew some employees were paid in cash and “off the books.”
The IRS says it lost $122,177 between 2013 and 2015.
Cioffi faces up to three years in prison.
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