Upper East Side Restauranteur Indicted For Tax Fraud, Prosecutors Say

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An Upper East Side restauranteur who owned, managed and cooked at a popular neighborhood Italian restaurant is facing felony tax fraud charges, prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney's office told Patch.

A.J. Black, the man behind the now-closed Il Tesoro, was indicted Monday on felony charges of grand larceny and 18 counts of criminal tax fraud, prosecutors said. Black, 49, is accused of withholding $328,000 in sales tax during the four years Il Tesoro operated on the corner of First Avenue and East 82nd Street, according to the DA's office.

"In this case, the defendant allegedly pocketed sales taxes that he collected—a crime that cheats our government and every New Yorker out of money necessary to maintain services and infrastructure," Acting Commissioner of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Nonie Manion said in a statement.

Black opened Il Tesoro in 2011 to serve modern Italian cuisine on the Upper East Side, according to the DA's office. Between September 2011 and June 2015 the restaurant generated approximately $3.7 million in taxable sales and $328,000 in sales tax, but none of the taxes went back to the state, prosecutors said. Black also did not send in required quarterly sales tax returns during the four-year period, prosecutors said.

The site of Il Tesoro is currently occupied by an Austrian Restaurant called Grünauer Bistro.

"Taxes are not earned profits," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in a statement. "This defendant is accused of pocketing the sales tax he charged his customers for four years, purposefully evading his tax obligations. In addition to defrauding the State, failing to remit and report sales taxes creates an unlevel playing field for other independent, mom-and-pop restaurateurs who are following the law"

Photo by Shutterstock