Restaurant partner of ex-New York City congressman pleads guilty
By Nate Raymond
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The business partner of an imprisoned former U.S. congressman from New York City pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a tax charge in a case related to the conviction of the Republican politician.
Bennett Orfaly, 51, pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, to having aided and assisted in the preparation of a false tax return for one of his restaurants, Pita Grill Murray Hill, in 2009.
Orfaly, who once co-owned another restaurant with former U.S. Representative Michael Grimm at the center of the politician's criminal case, said he provided an accountant false information to "substantially underestimate" the pita restaurant's gross receipts.
A court filing last week said the case was related to the one against Grimm, who represented a district that included the New York City borough of Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn.
Grimm was sentenced in July to eight months in prison after pleading guilty to tax fraud in connection with Healthalicious, a Manhattan restaurant he co-founded with Orfaly. Orfaly faces up to three years in prison when he is sentenced on June 30.
"Mr. Orfaly and I are glad this matter is behind him," said James DiPietro, Orfaly's lawyer.
Grimm, a former Marine who later worked as an FBI agent, was elected in 2010 with a wave of conservative Tea Party Republicans advocating low taxes and government spending, but built a moderate voting record.
From 2007 to 2010, Grimm oversaw the day-to-day operations of Healthalicious.
At a court hearing in 2012, prosecutor Anthony Capozzolo said Orfaly had ties to a member of the Gambino family, Anthony Morelli, who was sentenced in 1996 to 20 years in prison in connection with a gas tax fraud.
That statement came during a bail hearing for a former campaign fundraiser for Grimm, Ofer Biton, who was also an owner in Orfaly's pita restaurant and later pleaded guilty to visa fraud in 2013.
Grimm was subsequently indicted in April 2014 on tax charges related to Healthalicious and pleaded guilty that December to aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax return.
Prosecutors said Grimm under-reported wages paid to workers, many of whom did not have legal status in the United States, and concealed more than $900,000 in Healthalicious' gross receipts from an accountant who prepared the restaurant's tax returns.
(Editing by Matthew Lewis)
