Local donut shop owners sentenced in federal court for tax evasion

ONEIDA COUNTY- A local family trio - who owns a local chain of donut shops - have been sentenced to prison time for federal tax evasion.

In October of 2020, John Zourdos, 69, and his wife Helen, 65, along with their son, Dimitrios, 39, were all indicted in the wake of a IRS investigation.

The family owns ‘Dippin Donuts,’ a local chain donut and coffee shop in the Mohawk Valley.

Appearing in federal court Wednesday, John was sentenced to 30-months behind bars, while his wife received 20-months and their son received 10-months. This development is according to the latest updates from WKTV.

All three were found guilty of hiding $4.5-million in cash sales, while also evading $2-million in individual and corporate taxes between 2012 and 2017.

Authorities say the family submitted cash deposits to their personal bank accounts rather than their business ones. This, according to officials, subsequently resulted in the filing of false tax return documents by their accountants.

Furthermore, investigators found out that the unreported income was utilized for luxury vehicles, expensive watches and real estate.

All three defendants were ordered by the judge to pay more than $2-million in restitution.

All three will be under supervised release for three-years after serving their prison terms.

Image courtesy via Dippin Donuts.