Charles Weiner, a Philadelphia restaurateur from Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, has been indicted on 22 counts of willfully failing to withhold and pay over employment taxes. Prosecutors allege he paid workers at Max’s Steaks & Eagle Bar and the Clock Bar wholly or partly in cash for four years. The IRS Criminal Investigation announcement is dated October 15.
What the indictment says Weiner did
The two restaurants sit on the same block of Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia. According to the indictment, Weiner controlled their finances. That made him the person responsible for holding back Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from employee paychecks, sending that money to the IRS and filing the quarterly employment tax returns.
The government says that did not happen. From the first quarter of 2019 through the first quarter of 2023, the indictment alleges, Weiner and two other people working at his direction paid employees wholly or partly in cash. The announcement does not name the two others…