Crime & Safety
Guilty Plea in Tax Evasion Case for Owner of Deptford Restaurant
Restaurateur Mauro DiVentura failed to report more than $430,000 in income from 2004 to 2006 from Filomena Lakeview in Deptford, authorities said.
The owner of Filomena Lakeview in Deptford faces up to five years in federal prison after admitting he failed to pay taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars in income from another restaurant he owns in Deptford.
Mauro DiVentura, 54, of Berlin, Camden County, pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Camden to one count of income-tax evasion for the 2005 calendar year. DiVentura entered his plea before his case was presented to a federal grand jury.
From 2004 to 2006, DiVentura took cash earned from the Cooper Street restaurant and deposited into his personal bank account, used corporate funds to directly pay for personal expenses and used corporate funds to pay for credit cards on which he charged personal expenses, according to the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation division.
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In all, DiVentura failed to report $430,878 in additional income on his tax returns for those years, leaving him with a tax bill of $147,661 on that unreported income.
The Deptford restaurant is a popular South Jersey dining spot frequented by state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, who lives nearby in West Deptford. In December 2011, Sweeney and Gov.Chris Christie—who'd had a public falling out—mended fences over a four-hour dinner at Filomena, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
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When he's sentenced Aug. 8 before Judge Joseph E. Irenas, DiVentura faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
DiVentura's brother, Remo, runs a second location, Filomena Cucina Italiana in Blackwood. Another DiVentura brother, Giuseppe, and his wife own a third location, Filomena Cucina Rustica, in Berlin; none of them were accused in this case.
“Business owners have a legal obligation to accurately report their business receipts and pay their fair share of tax,” Special Agent in Charge Shantelle P. Kitchen, of the IRS Criminal Division's Newark field office, said in a statement. “Hiding income from the IRS is illegal and those Americans who file accurate, honest and timely returns can be assured that the government will hold accountable those who do not.”
(Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly indentified the owner of Filomena Cucina Italiana in Gloucester Township.)
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