Omega Burger Owners Sentenced to Prison on Federal Tax Conspiracy Charges

MILWAUKEE -- The owners of three popular Milwaukee-area restaurants have been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to federal tax conspiracy charges.

Paul, Freida, and Andreas Bouraxis pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, by skimming cash from various restaurants they operated in the Milwaukee area, failing to report substantial income on their personal income tax returns, paying employees under the table in cash, and failing to pay federal payroll taxes on those cash wages.

Paul Bouraxis was sentenced to two years in federal prison. Andreas Bouraxis was sentenced to 1 year and one day in prison. Freida Bouraxis and Awadallah were each sentenced to three years of probation, during which they will spend 6 months in home confinement.

Paul, Freida, and Andreas Bouraxis were also ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution, which will be collected from funds the IRS seized from the defendants’ businesses and safe deposit boxes. The defendants agreed to forfeit an additional $442,000 of the seized funds to the United States to settle a related civil forfeiture action.

As part of this scheme the defendants skimmed more than $3 million form their businesses and underreported and underpaid federal income and payroll taxes by approximately $1.4 million. Paul Bouraxis also pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion. Awadallah pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false federal return based on his failure to report cash he was paid under the table as a general manager of one of the Bouraxis’ restaurants.