Local Restaurateur Sentenced for Filing False Tax Returns

BOSTON – The former owner of two restaurants was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for filing false tax returns. 

Remigijus Mikelenas, 55, of Gilford, N.H., formerly of Canton, Mass. was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to one year and one day in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release. Mikelenas was also ordered to pay more than $800,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and more than $100,000 in restitution to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In August 2024, Mikelenas was arrested and charged with three counts of filing false tax returns.

Mikelenas was the owner of a café and a juice bar in Canton. Between approximately 2012 through 2020, Mikelenas deliberately failed to report more than $3.5 million in gross receipts at his businesses to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). As a result, Mikelenas avoided paying more than $820,000 in federal income taxes.

During the investigation, Mikelenas told an undercover agent posing as a prospective buyer for the businesses, that he regularly underreported his gross receipts to the IRS and showed the agent a copy of the “real” books that reflected the businesses’ true earnings. During the meeting, Mikelenas asked the agent whether he worked for the IRS, and added, “If I get caught, I’ll be screwed.”
           
United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin A. Saltzman of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.