News from New York State Department of Taxation and Finance

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Manhattan Restaurateur Pleads Guilty To Stealing More Than $500,000 In Tax Revenue

Will Receive Jail Sentence and Pay Full Restitution

ALBANY, NY (01/10/2008; 1228)(readMedia)-- Acting New York State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Barbara G. Billet announced today that the owner of several Manhattan restaurants has been convicted for stealing more than $500,000 in sales and compensating use taxes.

Steve Galanis, 44, of 745 Route 9W, Nyack, NY, is the owner of four Manhattan restaurants: Cinema Café located at 505 Third Avenue, Cinema 60 located at 42-45 East 60th Street, Spartis Power Inc., located at 1325-27 Second Avenue and Evrotas Enterprises located at 2 East 45th Street. Galanis pled guilty on January 7, 2008 to two misdemeanor counts of filing fraudulent returns for the period spanning December 2001 through November 2006.

As part of his plea agreement, Galanis also acknowledged that in addition to the original tax liability, he is responsible for substantial interest and penalties owed to the Department. The addition of interest and penalties increases Galanis’s restitution from the original $517,117 in sales and use tax to $700,212. At the time Galanis entered his guilty plea he was promised a sentence of 30 days in jail.

Acting Commissioner Billet said, “As part of our increased efforts to expose tax cheats, the Department is focusing heavily on dishonest business owners who collect and fail to remit sales and withholding taxes. These tax cheats illegally pad their pockets while cheating their customers and state and local government, and put honest competitors at an unfair financial disadvantage. We applaud District Attorney Morgenthau for aggressively prosecuting these cases. Tax fraud is a serious offense which carries serious consequences as Mr. Galanis’s sentence demonstrates.”

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office participates in New York State’s Crimes Against Revenue Program which provides grants to local district attorneys to investigate and prosecute tax crimes.

For additional information on this case, please refer to the Manhattan DA’s press release which can be found at: http://www.manhattanda.org/whatsnew/press/2008-1-07.shtml

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