BUFFALO, N.Y. - The owner of multiple restaurants in Western New York pleaded guilty Friday to tax evasion and employing illegal aliens in his restaurants.
Sergio Rames Mucino, 44, of Buffalo, was the owner and operator of Don Tequila, located at 73 Allen Street, Buffalo; El Agave located at 3870 Union Road, Cheektowaga; Agave, located at 765 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo; and La Divina, located at 2896 Delaware Avenue, Kenmore.
Mucino concealed cash payments, failed to collect payroll taxes, paid employees with cash, and placed assets in the names of others, to evade payment of income taxes totaling $1,006,161.
Between March 2014 and Ocotber 2016, Mucino employed at least 10 illegal aliens.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The plea also requires Mucino to forfeit nearly $40,000 in cash that was taken from his restaurants, a 2009 Porsche Boxster that the he purchased with his illegal profits, and another $1,000,000 representing additional profits made from operating the restaurants against the law.