PHILADELPHIA – A co-owner of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey retail chain Bare Feet Shoes has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for paying workers off the books to avoid nearly $600,000 in federal taxes.
A judge on Thursday ordered Uri Jacobson to also pay more than $1.2 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
Federal prosecutors say Jacobson and store manager Elena Falaschetti (fal-uh-SKEH'-tee) failed to report almost $2.8 million in wages paid to employees from 2003 to 2009. Wyncote, Pa.-based Bare Feet Shoes has 200 employees in 12 stores selling shoes, apparel and accessories.
Authorities say Jacobson had Falaschetti and others falsify payroll reports. They say both of them underreported their own incomes for years.
Jacobson and Falaschetti pleaded guilty last September. Falaschetti was sentenced in May to six months of home confinement.
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