Restaurant Owner Admits To Failing To File A Tax Return

BOSTON - A restaurant owner pleaded guilty in federal court in Springfield today in connection with failing to file a tax return. And, on behalf of his corporation, the restaurant owner admitted that Scuderi’s Inc. filed false tax returns.

Giuseppe Scuderi, 62, of West Suffield, Conn., pleaded guilty to one count of failing to file a tax return for the year 2015, and Scuderi’s Inc. pleaded guilty to five counts of filing false tax returns for the years 2010 through 2014. Scuderi and Scuderi’s Inc. were charged on May 3, 2019. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for Sept. 19, 2019.

According to court documents, Scuderi was the owner of a Southwick restaurant that generated a substantial amount of cash sales. From 2010 to 2014, Scuderi took cash from the business and did not declare it as income, and he kept two sets of books, which depicted both the actual sales of the business and the sales disclosed on his tax returns. As a result of his scheme, Scuderi failed to pay $170,769 in taxes to the government.

Scuderi faces a sentence of no greater than one year in prison, up to one year of supervised release, and a $25,000 fine. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Kristina O’Connell, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex J. Grant of Lelling’s Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.