DISTRICT ATTORNEY - NEW YORK COUNTY

NEWS RELEASE
December 10, 2007

Contact: Barbara Thompson
212.335.9400

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today that the owner of a well-known Tribeca restaurant has pleaded guilty to stealing $1.1 million in taxes from New York State.  As a result of his plea, he will be sentenced to jail and be required to sign a restitution order for the entire $1.1 million and will be responsible for all accrued interest and penalties  that may total an additional $1 million.

The defendant, ERIC TEVROW, is the owner of Fresh restaurant, which is located at 105 Reade Street, in lower Manhattan.  He also owned two other Manhattan  restaurants, Shore located at 41 Murray Street and Coast located at 100 Liberty Street. The defendant is charged with stealing sales and payroll taxes that should have been paid at all three restaurants.  Coast and Shore were closed in  2005 and 2004, respectively.

The investigation leading to today’s guilty plea began with a referral from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and was conducted by the District Attorney’s Money Laundering and Tax Crimes Unit.

The investigation revealed that TEVROW reported between 7% and only 15% of the collected sales tax for Shoe and Fresh respectively, and none of the sales tax collected by Coast, and thereby stole $979,759 in sales tax from State Tax, collected by three restaurants over a 4 ½ year period.  TEVROW also stole $133,312 in payroll taxes from Coast and Fresh.

The defendant pleaded guilty today to Grand Larceny in the Second Degree in connection with the theft of sales tax collected by all three restaurants. He also pleaded guilty to Grand Larceny in the Third Degree for the theft of payroll taxes.

According to the plea agreement, approved by the Court, the defendant will receive a conditional discharge on the Grand Larceny in the Second Degree and a four-month sentence for the guilty to Grand Larceny in the Third Degree.  However, if the defendant fails to abide by the terms of the plea agreement, he will not be permitted to withdraw his guilty pleas and may be sentenced to as much as 10 months in jail.

The investigation leading to today’s guilty pleas was conducted by Assistant District Attorney Gilda Mariani, Chief of the District Attorney’s Money Laundering and Tax Crimes Unit and assisted by  Senior Computer Forensics Analyst Avram Lanksy, Chief Financial Investigator Robert Demarest and Senior Investigative Accountant Michael Lentini.

For their participation in the investigation, Mr. Morgenthau thanked the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, and Acting Commissioner Barbara G. Billet, Deputy Commissioner William J. Comiskey, Assistant Deputy Commissioner Peter Farrell, Revenue Crimes Bureau Director Bruce Kato, Chief Auditor Tommy Chan and Auditors Elaine Sullivan and Mukaila Rabiu.

Mr. Morgenthau also thanked the New York City Police Department and Commissioner Raymond Kelly and District Attorney Squad Commander Captain Joseph Finn and Detective Robert Mistretta.

Defendant Information:

ERIC TEVROW, 3/21/56

34 Hillside Avenue

West Orange, New Jersey

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