San Diego, California - A California restaurant chain manager was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for employment tax fraud.

According to court documents, Aleksandar Sreckovic, of San Diego, was a manager for San Diego Home Cooking, a restaurant group with over 110 employees and five restaurants in the San Diego area: Café 56 & Bar and Mission Valley Café & Bar in San Diego, Lake Murray Café in La Mesa, Lakeside Café in Lakeside, and Centre City Café in Escondido. Sreckovic had significant control over the finances of San Diego Home Cooking and had a duty to account for and pay employment taxes on behalf of the company’s employees to the IRS.

In November 2014, Sreckovic directed an outside payroll company to stop making employment tax payments to the IRS. From the last quarter of 2014 through the last quarter of 2017, Sreckovic did not file employment tax returns, nor did he pay employment taxes for San Diego Home Cooking. Instead, Sreckovic paid other creditors and his own personal expenses. In total, Sreckovic caused a tax loss of over $1.5 million.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo ordered Sreckovic to serve one year of supervised release and to pay approximately $2.3 million in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman for the Southern District of California made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Matthew Hoffman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Galvin of the Southern District of California prosecuted the case.