Ex-Pizza Pizza Executive Fined For Hiding Income From Tax

Toronto Star:

A Toronto businessman who cut a swath through the Canadian fast food world is guilty of cheating the public of tax revenues and must pay a hefty fine, a judge has ruled.

Lawrence Austin, once second in charge at Pizza Pizza, pleaded guilty to hiding income of $677,343 he received from the fast food giant in the 1990s. That means he failed to pay about $200,000 in taxes and must now turn over that amount, plus a $200,000 fine.

“It’s another chapter in my life that is ended,” said Austin, 59, a flamboyant dealmaker who counts the growth of Pizza Pizza as one of his greatest victories and his long-ago racketeering conviction in Florida as one of his saddest moments. “I look forward to moving ahead with a clean slate,” Austin said outside the courtroom.

Mr. Justice William Bassel accepted an agreed statement of facts submitted by prosecutor Robert Goldstein and Austin’s lawyer David Tice. Bassel said that when people do not pay their taxes, “the public is cheated.” The hefty fine was sufficient, Bassel said, though he noted that when there is a “defrauding of the public” a jail sentence can be imposed.

The agreed statement describes the involvement in the case of Austin’s old friend, Pizza Pizza president Michael Overs. It turns out that some of the money prosecutors originally thought Austin had pocketed only flowed through Austin’s accounts and was directed back to Overs. Court did not hear why.