A federal judge Monday sentenced a Seattle restaurant owner to 13 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for failing to pay more than $1.4 million in taxes.
Seattle resident Ruadhri Rory" McCormick, 44, entered a plea agreement in July for failing to pay Social Security, unemployment and Medicare taxes related to his Capitol Hill establishment, Single Shot.
Employing as many as 87 cooks, servers and bartenders between 2014 and 2024, McCormick "withheld payroll taxes from employee paychecks," but "kept the money and failed to pay it over to the Internal Revenue Service," according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The subsequent investigation found he spent nearly $400,000 buying and renovating a house on Vashon Island, nearly $125,000 in connection with casinos and upward of $38,000 on travel, according to a DOJ release.
“This defendant chose to use money that should have gone to pay for the employee’s future benefits, to pay to remodel a home on Vashon Island,” said Charles Neil Floyd, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, in prepared remarks. “Unfortunately, the employee’s Social Security work records now show gaps where they don’t have credit for the years they put in at McCormick’s restaurant.”
McCormick was also ordered to pay about $1.45 million in restitution. In his plea agreement, McCormick also stated that he did not file personal income taxes for any tax year between 2015 and 2024, according to the release.
According to a defense sentencing memorandum, McCormick grew up in North Vancouver, B.C., and has worked in the Seattle restaurant industry for about two decades. He had partial ownership of El Grito Taqueria and late-night restaurant re:public in South Lake Union, though only the restaurant he wholly owned, Single Shot, was linked to unpaid taxes.
In over a dozen letters of support, friends and family described him as a devoted father who fully intends to repay his debt to the IRS.
In asking for a 15-month prison sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Staniar said the gaps in work history of some Single Shot employees meant their federal retirement benefits could end up being lower than expected.
U.S. District Judge Kymberly K. Evanson said at the sentencing hearing that the “offense involves a significant breach of public trust.
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