Father and Son Pizza Store Owners Sentenced for Tax Fraud

The father and son owners and operators of pizza stores in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area were sentenced today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina for willfully filing false tax returns, the Justice Department announced. 

Thair Alwan was sentenced to serve one year and one day in prison to be followed by one year of supervised release, and was required to pay a $10,000 fine.  Saill Fadhil, Alwan’s son, was sentenced to serve 30 days in prison to be served during three years of probation and was required to pay a $5,000 fine.  The defendants pleaded guilty to these tax crimes on July 15, 2014.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Alwan and Fadhil own and operate I Love NY Pizza stores in the Raleigh area.  During tax years 2008 and 2009, Alwan and Fadhil skimmed approximately $1.34 million from the company’s various stores and willfully filed false federal income tax returns that failed to report the income, resulting in substantial tax underpayments.  The skimmed cash receipts were used for personal expenditures and deposited into their personal bank accounts.  When making cash deposits, Alwan structured the transactions to be under $10,000 and avoided the filing of Currency Transaction Reports. 

This case was investigated by special agents of IRS – Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Trial Attorney Todd Ellinwood of the Justice Department's Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Hulbig of the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.