Wayne Restaurateur Gets 2 Years For Tax Fraud: Feds

WAYNE, PA – A former co-owner of Arde Osteria in Wayne was sentenced to prison for filing false tax returns and defrauding the IRS after skimming cash from several other restaurants he owned in the Philadelphia area, according to federal authorities.

United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced Giuseppe "Pino" DiMeo, 51, of Eagleville, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $463,738 in restitution to the IRS. DiMeo was also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a special assessment of $1,100.

DiMeo, a former co-owner of Wayne's Arde Osteria, and his business partners at restaurants in Philadelphia, Lafayette Hill, and Wilmington, Delaware defrauded the IRS of income taxes and payroll taxes, authorities said.

From 2008 through 2014, DiMeo took cash from his restaurants and paid many of his employees in cash under the table, then hid his "cash skim" and the cash payroll payments from his accountant and from the IRS in order to evade payment of income and payroll taxes, according to authorities.

In total, DiMeo failed to report to the IRS approximately $2 million in gross receipts from his stores.

DiMeo’s cash skim and cash payroll payments occurred at Pizzeria DiMeo’s in Roxborough, which was sold; the now-closed DiMeo’s Pizza of Lafayette Hilll; Allegro Pizza in Philadelphia, which is also closed; and DiMeo’s Pizzaiuoli Napulitani of Wilmington, Delaware, which remains open, according to authorities.

"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 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."

"Not only did Giuseppe DiMeo skirt his income tax obligations, he also failed to withhold and remit, to the IRS, income taxes for his employees," said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Chart Guy Ficco. "This sentence should serve as a reminder that IRS Criminal Investigation and the Department of Justice have no tolerance for such criminal behavior."

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