Two Ohio men have been sentenced to a combined 31 years in prison for operating an illegal gambling business for nearly a decade, tax evasion, money laundering, and more. On Monday, the US Department of Justice announced that Christos Karasarides Jr. was sentenced to 262 months in prison and three years of supervised release, ordered to pay over $5.5m in restitution to the US government, and required to forfeit $419,768 in cash plus his residence. Ronald DiPietro received a 112-month sentence and three years of supervised release and must pay $4.8m in restitution.
The two men were convicted in January of running multiple illegal businesses from 2009 to 2018. One, called Skilled Shamrock, housed slot machines and brought in $34m in revenue between 2012 and 2017, generating $7m in profits. Karasarides and DiPietro used nominee owners and “sham” contracts to hide their actual ownership of the businesses.
helped Karasarides hide income and assets from other gambling businesses from the IRS
Karasarides failed to report $2.3m in income from the businesses from 2012 to 2018, for which he owned $800,000 in taxes. On top of that, DiPietro, who is a CPA, helped Karasarides hide income and assets from other gambling businesses from the IRS.
As often happens in these cases, the two men spent lavishly, buying luxury vehicles, property, and country club memberships. Karasarides also spent millions on “extravagant” gambling trips.
Part of why Karasarides’ sentence was harsher was because he also attempted to obstruct the Department of Justice’s investigation by directing witnesses to lie to authorities, causing false documents to be created, and coercing another person to file tax returns saying they were a partner in the gambling businesses, rather than Karasarides.
