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May 25, 2021

Accountant for celebrity pizzeria chef sentenced in tax case

IMAGE | Pixabay.com
By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo

An accountant who helped prepare taxes for the owner of several Connecticut and New York pizza restaurants has been sentenced to three years of probation.

James G. Guerra, 59, of Dix Hills, New York, must spend the first two months of his probation under home confinement, and he must perform 100 hours of community service.

U.S. District Court Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport imposed the sentence on Guerra on May 19. 

Guerra pleaded guilty in January to one count of “assisting the willful failure to collect and pay over withholding taxes.”

Guerra had worked as an accountant for celebrity pizza chef, Bruno DiFabio, who owns pizza restaurants in Connecticut and New York. They include Pinocchio Pizza in New Canaan and Wilton Amore Cucina and Bar in Stamford; ReNapoli Pizza in Old Greenwich; and eateries in Scarsdale and Pound Ridge, New York.

DiFabio gained fame as a television personality on the Food Network and appeared on programs such as the Today Show and Good Morning America. He was also a guest judge on Chopped.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, DiFabio and his business associates would remove cash from registers and avoid depositing the money into the restaurants’ operating business accounts.

Prosecutors said Guerra knew DiFabio routinely paid his employees in cash. The government also indicated Guerra was aware that DiFabio failed to collect required payroll withholding taxes and failed to pay those taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

“Guerra reviewed and approved DiFabio’s quarterly tax returns that DiFabio subsequently signed and filed with the IRS,” the U.S. Attorney’s office indicated, in a press release.

Guerra’s attorney, Richard Kestenbaum of Great Neck, New York, had asked for leniency in a pre-sentencing memorandum to the court, noting that Guerra has no prior criminal record, is remorseful, accepted responsibility and cooperated with investigators.

“Guerra no longer accepts clients where there is even a slight suspicion that the client maintains a cash payroll without proper tax reporting,” the defense memorandum states.

DiFabio pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to file false income tax returns and payroll tax returns. He was sentenced to a month in prison and ordered to pay $816,954 in restitution.

In April, DiFabio’s business partner in some of his restaurants, Steven Cioffi, was sentenced to a month of imprisonment and ordered to pay $122,177 in restitution.

Idalecia Lopes Santos, the businesses’ bookkeeper, was sentenced in March to three years of probation. 

Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com.

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