BOSTON — The co-owner of Nick’s Famous Roast Beef in Beverly was sentenced Tuesday in federal court for skimming nearly $6 million in cash receipts from the business over a six-year period and not reporting that cash as income on business and personal tax returns.
Nicholas Markos, 70, of Lynn, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to one year of probation to be served in home confinement and ordered to pay $2,063,394 in restitution.
In January 2017, Markos pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States by obstructing the IRS in assessing and collecting taxes and 10 counts of aiding and assisting in the filing of false corporate and personal tax returns.
In April 2017, co-owner Nicholas Koudanis, wife Eleni Koudanis, and their son, Steven Koudanis, were sentenced for their role in the scheme.
From 2008 to 2013, Markos and Nicholas Koudanis, skimmed more than $1 million in cash receipts each year from their business, which they failed to report on their corporate tax returns or personal tax returns. Therefore, each avoided the payment of nearly $1 million in personal income taxes during the same period.
Each week, Markos and Koudanis personally divided the cash receipts, determining how much to deposit into the business’ bank account and report on their tax returns, how much to use to pay suppliers and employees, and how much to keep for themselves.
Eleni Koudanis was primarily responsible for the bookkeeping, and she provided some of the false income information to the tax preparer and recruited employees, including her son Steven Koudanis, to create false cash register receipts to be used, among other things, in connection with an IRS tax audit of the business.
The actual cash register receipts were not provided to the tax preparer who prepared the business and personal tax returns.