Mystic restaurant owner sentenced for federal tax offense

 

Date: October 26, 2022

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Yi Di Lin, also known as “Johnny Lin,” of Mystic, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in Bridgeport to three years of probation, and was ordered to pay restitution of more than $92,000 and a $5,500 fine, for a federal a federal tax offense.

According to court documents and statements made in court today, Lin owns and operates Peking Tokyo, a restaurant in Mystic.  In operating the restaurant, Lin regularly paid several employees wholly or partially in cash.  In mid-2019, Lin began using a payroll processing company to issue payroll checks for certain employees, make appropriate tax withholdings, and file Forms 941 (Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Returns) with the Internal Revenue Service.  Lin subsequently failed to inform the payroll company about the existence of the employees he only paid in cash and the amount of cash he paid to employees.  As a result, the payroll company prepared and filed false Forms 941 for four quarters in 2019 and 2020, and appropriate payroll taxes were not remitted to the IRS.  The resulting loss to the IRS was $92,093.

On July 28, 2022, Lin pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return.

Lin has paid $92,093 in restitution.

This matter was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer R. Laraia.