Atlanta (AP) — The son of Gladys Knight, an R & B legend, was sentenced to two years in prison for not withholding payroll taxes on a restaurant bearing his mother’s name, a federal prosecutor in Atlanta said. rice field.
Shanga Hankerson opened the first restaurant, Gladys Knight’s Chicken and Waffles, in Atlanta in 1997. Over the next few years, we have opened at least three locations in Georgia and Washington, DC.
“We have deliberately ignored his tax obligations for many years,” Hankerson, 45, said in a news release by Deputy Attorney Kurt Erskine of the United States. Hankerson, who was found guilty in July during Wednesday’s sentence, was also sentenced to a year’s under surveillance release following his imprisonment and to pay more than $ 1 million in damages.
He was the only owner of the business and had to withhold payroll tax from the employee’s total wages. According to prosecutors, Hankerson was unable to remit more than $ 1 million in payroll taxes, at least from 2012 to 2016.
“Ownership of a well-known restaurant in our community has its benefits, but it also comes with great responsibility,” said James Dorsey, Special Agent for Criminal Investigation, IRS. “Paying taxes is a way to give back to the community, but unfortunately Hankerson chose to use those funds for other means.”
Knight won a court battle to break business ties in 2017, and her son was ordered to stop using her name, portrait, and souvenirs. Atlanta Journal-Constitution..