Tony Luke’s Founder and Son Indicted for Dodging Taxes: Feds
MEATY PROBLEM
The founder of Tony Luke’s, a popular Philadelphia cheesesteak chain, and his son were indicted Friday for tax evasion after allegedly stealing $8 million from the IRS and paying a portion of their employees’ salaries “off the books,” prosecutors allege. Anthony Lucidonio Sr. and his son, Nicholas Lucidonio, were charged with conspiracy to defraud the IRS, tax evasion, and aiding and assisting in filing false tax returns, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Prosecutors allege that between 2006 and 2016, the father-and-son owners stole millions from the IRS by “depositing only a portion of Tony Luke’s receipts into business bank accounts and filing with the IRS false business and personal tax returns that substantially understated their income.” The pair also paid a substantial amount of their employees’ salaries “off the books” in cash. In 2015, the Lucidonios, during a dispute over franchising rights, amended a prior tax return to increase reported sales—then falsely offset the increased income by inflating expenses.