Karaoke Bar Owner will be Singing a Different Tune in Prison

Kae Wook Lee of Queens, NY pled guilty in May, 2018 to charges of failing to collect and pay employment taxes to the IRS.

Lee was the sole owner and CEO of Mona Lisa 7 Corporation which operated a karaoke bar in Queens. According to court documents, for the tax years 2011-2013, Lee deposited part of the bar’s earnings into shell accounts he created.  From those accounts, Lee would withdraw money to pay his employee’s wages in cash without collecting employment taxes or paying those taxes to the IRS.  Lee would conceal the cash payments from his accountant and in turn filed false tax returns that underreported his employee’s wages. The IRS estimates their loss as approximately $612,500.

Lee is scheduled to be sentenced in September, 2018 where he could faces up to five years in prison, a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.