The former owners of Teakwoods, which most recently had restaurant locations in Gilbert and Chandler, were convicted Thursday on three felony counts and face prison time as well as fines of more than $3 million.
Business partners George Krotonsky and Aubrey Sturdivant both pleaded guilty to a handful of charges related to a multiyear scheme to evade paying several different types of taxes.
A grand jury indicted Krotonsky and Sturdivant in November 2021 for failing to pay transaction privilege tax, withholding income tax and failing to file the corresponding returns from Jan. 1, 2013 to Oct. 31, 2019.
An investigation conducted jointly by the Criminal Investigations Unit of the Arizona Department of Revenue and the Special Investigations Section of the Office of the Arizona Attorney General found that for more than six years, the Teakwoods restaurants in Gilbert and Chandler were charging and collecting transaction privilege tax from customers, but Krotonsky and Sturdivant kept the money for themselves instead of remitting the tax to the Arizona Department of Revenue.
