A former seaside eatery boss in Plymouth was slapped with a sentence today for playing hide and seek with Uncle Sam, keeping a chunk of his dough off the books and furtively filling his and his employees' pockets with unreported cash earnings, as per a Justice Department announcement.
Rudolph Ferrucci, 66, previously at the helm of the cash-only Sandy's restaurant and bar, will now be anchored at home for six months wearing the fed's version of a bracelet—part of a two-year probation sentence for his financial shenanigans, including tax evasion and failure to pay over employment taxes to the IRS—actions that deflated the federal wallet by over a cool $250,000 while Rudolph lined his with more than $1.2 million in underreported income over four years.
According to court documents, Ferrucci didn't just pocket extra cash; he also paid over $315,000 under the table to staff, with no paper trails in sight except for a handwritten ledger dubbed the "second set of books," effectively ducking out on another $75,000 in employment taxes.
Once Ferrucci's dual-ledger system was upended, he owned up to the deceit this past August, pleading guilty to one count of playing fast and loose with his taxes and one count of giving the IRS the slip on employee taxes. Judge Angel Kelley dealt Ferrucci's sentence, which also includes 400 hours of community service and a $5,500 fine—a light scratch considering the evasion heavyweight match he wagered against the feds.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy and IRS Criminal Investigation head honcho in Boston, Harry Chavis, Jr., brought this to light, while Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Holcomb stepped into the ring to prosecute the case.
