Owner dodged $5.1m in tax
US District Judge Andrew P. Gordon has sentenced the owner of a popular trio of Las Vegas restaurants to 37 months in federal prison for evading taxes to the tune of $5.1m.
In a Thursday press release, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) shared news of the sentencing of Raul Gil, 64, the Mexican restaurant-chain owner who boasted a “lavish lifestyle.”
led to losses of $1.6m in federal taxes and $445,820 in sales taxes for Nevada
According to court documents, the naturalized American and Nevada resident instructed bookkeepers at his Casa Don Juan restaurants to falsify sales figures, which led to losses of $1.6m in federal taxes and $445,820 in sales taxes for Nevada.
Gil’s attorneys stated their client “acted out of fear” of losing both his wife and his businesses, and “from a desire to protect his family and provide for them.”
The fall of Raul Gil
According to the DOJ press release, Gil dodged federal and state taxes “between 2014 and 2018 and from 2012 to 2018,” respectively.
Gil skimmed cash his managers deposited from his Casa Don Juan restaurants’ safes, including Nevada sales taxes paid by his clientele, to bolster his “lavish lifestyle” and fund “profitable real estate investments.”
The federal complaint stated that from 2012 to 2018, Gil purchased multiple properties for $2.19m that are now worth $5.2m and that “could easily have paid his taxes.”
Gil handed the fictitious sales entries to an external tax return preparer
From 2014 through 2018, Gil told his accounting staff to concoct false sales numbers for his Casa Don Juan books that under reported cash sales at the eateries by approximately $5.1m. Then, stated the DOJ, Gil handed the fictitious sales entries to an external tax return preparer responsible for filing his federal income tax returns.
Following an audit in 2018, the IRS interviewed Gil. Gil falsely stated to the revenue agent, and later to IRS-Criminal Investigation special agents, that all the falsified daily cash takings and point-of-sale records were accurate. Gil later pled guilty to tax evasion in August 2022.
DOJ warns others
On top of 37 months in a federal penitentiary, Judge Gordon ordered Gil to serve three years of supervised release and to pay a restitution of more than $2.2m.
In court filings, DOJ officials stated the hefty fine and prison sentence will send “a strong and important message” to other restaurateurs of the risk they take in falsifying tax returns.
Gil’s attorneys, however, stated Gil “is extremely remorseful for his conduct.”