The owner of a Stoughton restaurant and a now-shuttered West Roxbury steakhouse has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges after running a seven-year scheme that paid restaurant staff off the books, dodging hundreds of thousands of dollars in employment taxes. Marios Michalakis, 44, of Westwood faces up to five years in prison and has agreed to pay more than $2.4 million in combined restitution as part of the deal.
According to a federal charging document reported by Universal Hub, Michalakis instructed his payroll provider to file false quarterly payroll tax returns, known as Form 941s, for both Amelia’s in Stoughton and Sofia Italian Steakhouse in West Roxbury between January 2016 and December 2022, all to conceal under-the-table cash wages paid to employees. As reported by the Boston Globe, Michalakis failed to withhold income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes from those wages and never issued employees W-2 forms to report the income to the IRS.
The plea agreement resolves six federal charges of failing to collect, report, or pay employment taxes. Per the Globe’s reporting, Michalakis will admit to evading roughly $580,000 in combined federal and state employment taxes over the seven-year span.
Restitution Bill Dwarfs the Unpaid Taxes
The tax evasion itself accounts for only part of what Michalakis now owes. Records show he will owe at least $515,815 in restitution for unpaid federal taxes and $69,143 for unpaid state taxes, according to the Globe. But the single largest number in the case is separate: the plea deal requires Michalakis to pay $1.9 million in restitution to the Small Business Administration to resolve outstanding federal loans tied to his restaurant operations, Universal Hub reports…