Fast-food franchise owner, Ali Shahid Butt, admits to conspiring to underpay taxes and hide cash payments to employees, including undocumented workers.

A New Jersey man who owned and operated fast-food restaurants across several states pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Ohio to conspiring to commit tax fraud, a scheme that resulted in a tax loss of more than $2.4 million to the IRS.

Ali Shahid Butt, 56, of Princeton Junction, admitted in court that from 2015 to 2021, he and his co-conspirators paid certain employees in cash and failed to report or pay employment tax withholdings. The employees paid in cash were often undocumented immigrants without legal work authorization.

According to court documents, Butt held a partial ownership stake in several fast-food restaurants

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