The proprietor of three Las Vegas restaurants was sentenced Friday to 37 months in prison and charged $2.2 million in back taxes and penalties after being found guilty of underreporting sales by falsifying financial records.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Raul Gil directed his bookkeeper to hide $5.1 million in revenue over a five-year stretch from Gil’s three restaurants, all of which operate under the name Casa Don Juan. The bogus records were then used by an outside accountant to calculate Gil’s business and personal income taxes, shorting the federal government $1.6 million.
When the Internal Revenue Service decided to conduct an audit, Gil directed his personnel to draft fake sales records, including POS data, that supported what had been reported to the tax agency, Justice said. Yet he insisted during questioning by IRS investigators that the falsified numbers were accurate.
Justice said the books were cooked from 2014 through 2018.
In addition to serving prison time and making restitution of more than $2 million, Gil was sentenced to three years of post-release supervision by Justice.
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