The co-owner of a pizzaria in downtown Wilmington was sentenced to two years in federal prison on tax charges.
Giuseppe “Pino” DiMeo, 51, of Eagleville, PA, was also ordered to pay $463,738 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for conspiring to defraud the IRS and filing false tax returns. In addition, DiMeo was also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a special assessment of $1,100.
According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in southeast Pennsylvania, from 2008 through 2014, DiMeo and partners were involved in the scheme. DiMeo took cash from his restaurants and paid many of his employees in cash, then hid skimmed proceeds and the cash payroll payments from his accountant and from the IRS in order to evade payment of income and payroll taxes.
DiMeo failed to report to the IRS approximately $2 million in gross receipts from his stores, the release stated.
DiMeo’s cash skim and cash payroll payments occurred at DiMeo’s Pizza of Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania (closed); Pizzeria DiMeo’s of Philadelphia (now sold); Allegro Pizza of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (closed); and DiMeo’s Pizzaiuoli Napulitani of Wilmington.
“For years, DiMeo maintained that his businesses were barely profitable, all the while living a lavish lifestyle bankrolled by the money he owed the IRS,” said U.S. Attorney William McSwain. “His actions reveal a deliberate disregard for the law. Today’s sentence sends a powerful message to those who cheat the tax system: you will not get away with it.”
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations.
