Ronald Bartell, the Detroit native and former NFL cornerback who built Kuzzo's Chicken and Waffles into one of the city's most talked-about restaurants, has been charged with five felony counts tied to state sales tax. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the charges Thursday, and Kuzzo's LLC, the business entity behind the Livernois Avenue eatery, faces an identical set of five counts.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the charges stem from alleged violations of state sales tax law during the years Bartell operated the restaurant, from 2015 to 2026. Both Bartell and Kuzzo's LLC were arraigned in 54A District Court on Nov. 3, and they are next scheduled to appear in that same court, though no date has yet been set. As a report republished by Yahoo News notes, Nessel's office did not specify how much tax it believes Bartell and the business owe.
Bartell, 44, is a familiar name to Detroit sports fans well beyond the restaurant scene. He is a former Detroit Lion who also played for the then-St. Louis Rams before returning home to open Kuzzo's in late January 2015 at 19345 Livernois Ave. The restaurant quickly built a following around its fried chicken paired with red velvet waffles, becoming one of Detroit's most talked-about dining spots.
What the Attorney General's Office Is Alleging
Each of the five counts against Bartell and against the LLC falls under a category Nessel's office describes as taxes — failure to file, false return, or payment — a charge punishable by up to five years in prison. Michigan businesses are required to collect, report and send sales tax to the state Department of Treasury, and Nessel framed the case around that obligation, saying the revenue helps fund public schools and local governments.
“Businesses that cheat will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Nessel said, according to the same report. Bartell's attorney, Harrell Milhouse, did not immediately respond to a request for comment when the story published Thursday.
A Restaurant That Had Already Weathered One Closure
Kuzzo's wasn't new to turbulence even before the tax charges surfaced. The restaurant closed for about seven months in 2023 before reopening that July, only to shut down for good after 11 years in business. A farewell social media post at the time hinted that the brand might continue in some other form, though specifics of that plan have not been detailed.
How This Compares to a Prior Michigan Sales Tax Case
Bartell's case echoes, though does not mirror, an earlier Michigan prosecution. In 2020, the attorney general's office charged a suburban Detroit couple, Ki Yon Ahn and Seo Jong Yoo, along with their business Ki Wa Jip Inc., with six counts of filing a false sales tax return and one count of possessing an automated sales suppression device, according to MLive. In that case, a Michigan Department of Treasury analysis alleged the owners failed to report or remit more than $165,000 in sales tax dating back to 2013, and the pair were arraigned before a Macomb County judge. MLive's report also explained that the suppression device at issue in that case, known as a zapper, is software capable of manipulating point-of-sale databases to hide sales data from tax collectors.
No such device or dollar figure has been cited in connection with Bartell's case. A Michigan statute governing sales tax filings bars a person from failing or refusing to make a return or payment on time, filing a false or fraudulent return or payment, or making a false statement in a return or payment, according to the Michigan Legislature, though it remains unclear which specific conduct prosecutors are alleging against Bartell and Kuzzo's LLC.
