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ReBar Fraudster Jason Stevens Agrees To Pay $1 Million He Doesn't Have To Victims
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 13, 2014
Modified Jun 13, 2014
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 13, 2014
Modified Jun 13, 2014
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Yesterday, infamous reBar owner Jason Stevens agreed to a plea deal that ensures he'll spend 3 1/3 to 10 years in prison for tax fraud. Stevens pled guilty to grand larceny 2 and four counts of criminal tax fraud in the second degree after he allegedly didn't pay millions of dollars in taxes over the last couple years. In addition to his plea deal, Stevens agreed to pay $1 million to couples who have filed complaints with the attorney general. The only itsy bitsy problem? Stevens has no money. And if he does, it'll go toward his unpaid taxes. So, in other words, victims are getting... bupkis.
"Mr. Stevens regrets his actions; he’s taken responsibility for them,” said Stevens' lawyer, Allan Bahn, outside court yesterday. "And I think he is remorseful in terms of the negative impact it’s had on these people." Some former employees told us that Stevens made off with around $150,000 in wedding deposit checks and $27,000 in cash. Stevens had been audited by the IRS last year, and those former staffers suggest he owed $2.5-3 million in unpaid sales tax.
According to the NY Times, it's more in the range of $6 million.
Bahn claims that Stevens has returned $150,000 in cash and checks that he had on hand (the ones he allegedly took with him when he first disappeared), and that he stopped cashing the checks he received after April. This is all at least somewhat bullshit, because many couples and former staffers we talked to all described how Stevens' was still giving couples the tour of reBar, and taking their checks, two days before he shuttered the gastropub in late May.
The Times extrapolates on the little problem with his deal:
The agreement Mr. Stevens has reached with Mr. Schneiderman’s office calls for him to pay back more than $1 million to the couples Mr. Schneiderman is representing. Once a judge signs off on the agreement, other affected couples will have 120 days to join it, said Melissa Grace, a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office. But Mr. Bahn said that the limited assets Mr. Stevens has are likely to go first toward paying the more than $6 million owed in unpaid taxes, interest on those taxes and the nonpayment penalties he is responsible for.
We've contacted the Attorney General's office to try to understand exactly what the couples' might get in the deal, but in the meantime, those 73 couples who have already registered with the AG's office shouldn't necessarily hold their breath. At least two couples have already filed their own lawsuits, and other couples have said they are still planning on joining together for a class action lawsuit.
Tagged
bankrupt
brooklyn
Brooklyn Criminal court
grand larceny
jason stevens
rebar
tax evasion
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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