Charles Weiner, the 79-year-old owner of Max's Steaks and the adjoining Eagle Bar, has been indicted on federal charges alleging he paid employees off the books and falsified tax records for years at his North Philadelphia restaurant. Weiner, who lives in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, owns Max's Steaks & Eagle Bar and Clock Bar, and was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, 22 counts of willful failure to withhold and pay over employment taxes, and six counts of aiding and assisting the filing of false tax returns.
According to PHL17, federal officials say Weiner was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from his employees' wages and paying that money over to the IRS. The indictment alleges that from the first quarter of 2019 through the first quarter of 2023, Weiner and others working at his direction paid employee wages all or partly in cash, then gave his restaurant's accountant only part of the actual wages paid out. That left the accountant filing inaccurate and false quarterly tax returns with the IRS for the restaurants, per the same account. Weiner is also accused of feeding his accountant inaccurate information about food and beverage purchases, which in turn caused the restaurants' annual corporate tax returns to be filed incorrectly.
A North Philadelphia Institution With a Hollywood Résumé
Weiner founded Max's Steaks in 1994 at Germantown and Erie Avenues, naming it after his son Max after watching the crowds outside Jim's South Street gave him the idea, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The shop sits near the Broad Street-Erie Avenue transit hub and operates alongside the Eagle Bar, a neighborhood lounge with retro Naugahyde booths and neon signs that serves as the restaurant's primary seating area.
The restaurant became internationally known after a cameo in the 2015 film Creed, where Michael B. Jordan's character Adonis Creed eats his first Philly cheesesteak, and it returned for a scene in 2018's Creed II, according to Visit Philly. Max's has also hosted a city-designated Kevin Hart Day in 2017 near the comedian's childhood home and drawn visits from hip-hop artists including DJ Khaled and members of the Wu-Tang Clan, known locally for its two-foot-long cheesesteaks.
Ownership Already in Transition
The indictment lands amid a broader business transition already underway. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board filings revealed in January that Weiner had agreed to sell Max's Steaks and the Eagle Bar to veteran Philadelphia restaurateur Rob LaScala, owner of the LaScala's Fire restaurant group, after more than three decades running the shop, the Inquirer reported. LaScala had been managing the restaurant under contract before applying for the sale and was previously a longtime commercial tenant of Weiner's at Chubby's Steaks in Roxborough, where Weiner also served as landlord. Weiner's broader real estate and bar holdings around the city have included Chuck's Alibi in Northeast Philadelphia as well.
Part of a Nationwide Federal Crackdown
Weiner's indictment was announced as part of the U.S. Department of Justice's first-ever National Tax Enforcement Surge, a 45-day sweep launched in October 2026 that targeted 76 defendants nationwide for an estimated $490 million in tax losses. The initiative brought together 35 U.S. Attorneys' offices, the DOJ's Fraud Division, and IRS Criminal Investigation. Federal officials cited Government Accountability Office figures during the announcement estimating that tax fraud schemes cost American taxpayers up to $304 billion in lost revenue annually, according to Forbes.
The case also echoes a prior local prosecution: in January 2024, federal prosecutors sentenced the owners of South Philadelphia's Tony Luke's to 20 months in prison for a decade-long payroll tax fraud scheme that hid more than $8 million in sales between 2006 and 2016 and caused $1.3 million in federal tax loss, according to the Department of Justice. That case involved paying employees off-the-books cash wages, much like the allegations now facing Weiner.
Potential Penalties
Weiner faces up to five years in prison on the conspiracy count and up to five years for each count of willful failure to withhold and pay over employment taxes. He also faces up to three years in prison for each of the six counts of aiding and assisting the filing of false tax returns.
