Owner of pizza shops gets prison time for tax evasion

A restaurateur who owns pizza shops in Stamford and Greenwich was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in federal prison for his part in a tax evasion scheme involving TV chef Bruno DiFabio

Steven Cioffi, who owned a stake in ReNapoli Pizza in Old Greenwich and Amore Cucina & Bar in Stamford, is also required to pay $122,177 plus an additional $100 in restitution to the government.

Cioffi, 35, pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting in the filing of a false tax return in the fall of 2018.

Dressed in a gray suit and dark tie, Cioffi expressed remorse for his actions in a brief statement at his sentencing hearing, held over Zoom. He said he wanted to complete whatever sentence the court imposed and “move on and do better things with my life.”

U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden also ordered one year of supervised release for Cioffi, a Trumbull resident who previously lived in Stamford.

In imposing the sentence, Bolden said he had weighed the impact a prison sentence on the 28 employees of Cioffi’s two small businesses, as well as his lack of a prior major criminal history.

“You are someone who has worked hard,” Bolden said. “You have built up some business, the challenge obviously being here whether there were some shortcuts taken.”

But Bolden said Cioffi’s offense was not “victimless,” and that by depriving the government of tax revenue he had in effect stolen from everyone.

Federal authorities accused Cioffi, who also owns half of Pinocchio Pizza in Pound Ridge, N.Y., of taking part in a scheme with DiFabio in which cash was removed from the restaurants’ cash registers, not deposited into its operating bank account.

“The businesses’ outside bookkeeper and accountant used the bank records to determine business gross receipts,” a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “When cash was removed from the register and not deposited into the business bank account, the cash would not be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.”

Federal authorities said Cioffi was also aware some employees were paid off the books, allowing withholding taxes to go underpaid.

DiFabio, who federal authorities said has business interests in Cioffi’s three restaurants, was also charged in the scheme. In the fall of 2018, DiFabio pleaded guilty to conspiracy to file false income tax returns and payroll tax returns. Authorities say his involvement resulted in the loss of more than $816,000 to the IRS. He awaits sentencing.

Cioffi’s criminal defense attorney David Colgan painted his client as a young man “led astray by the adults in his life,” noting that Cioffi first met DiFabio when he was 17.

Colgan also said that while Cioffi has not made payments toward restitution — at one point citing financial difficulties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic — he said Cioffi has saved about $10,000 he intends to pay once he knows how to make out the check.

Colgan asked for Cioffi to be incarcerated in a minimum security prison. Bolden said he would recommend Cioffi serve his sentence in a minimum security camp at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher W. Schmeisser said Cioffi was the primary person responsible for the restaurants he owned, and said he was the “point person” who met with a person whom investigators sent undercover to unravel the scheme. “He was not blindly following Mr. DiFabio,” Schmeisser said.

When Cioffi was debriefed by investigators, Schmeisser said he spent time “minimizing” his involvement. “But there is a reason that there wasn’t a cooperation agreement extended to this defendant.”

He also noted Cioffi’s family had moved to Connecticut from Yonkers, N.Y., since his guilty plea, taking on a “substantial mortgage” rather than “paying prior obligations to the IRS.”

It’s unclear whether the businesses Colgan referred to were the pizza restaurants involved in Cioffi’s arrest.

Two others involved in the scheme have also pleaded guilty to federal charges. Idalecia Lopes Santos, the businesses bookkeeper, pleaded guilty to tax evasion in June 2019. The businesses’ accountant, James Guerra, pleaded guilty to willful failure to collect and pay over withholding taxes earlier this year.

Lopes Santos was sentenced to three years of probation on March 30.

Cioffi is required to report to prison on Aug. 2.