From the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

Former Operator of Suburban Chicago Nightclub Charged With Underreporting Corporate Income Taxes

CHICAGO — The former operator of a suburban Chicago nightclub has been charged in federal court with assisting in the preparation and submission of false corporate income tax returns for six years.

ALICIA ARNOLD willfully assisted in the preparation and submission of false and fraudulent income tax returns for the calendar years 2012 to 2017 for Arnie’s Idle Hour, the nightclub Arnold operated in Harvey, Ill., according to a criminal information filed Feb. 5, 2021, in U.S. District Court in Chicago. 

Each of the false tax returns substantially underreported the nightclub’s gross receipts and sales, the information states.

Arnold, 51, of Las Vegas, Nev., and formerly of Homer Glen, Ill., pleaded not guilty today at her arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert.  A status hearing was set for March 3, 2021, at 10:30 a.m., before U.S. District Judge Jorge L. Alonso.

The charges were announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Tamera D. Cantu, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago; Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; and Thomas J. Dart, Cook County Sheriff.   The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Grayson Walker and Maureen Merin.

The public is reminded that an information is not evidence of guilt.  The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 

Each count is punishable by up to three years in federal prison.  If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.