For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Contact: Nazneen Ahmed
919-716-0060
(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein announced that William Louis Willis pleaded guilty to five counts of aiding and abetting the embezzlement of state property. He was ordered to pay $94,510.69 in restitution to the Department of Revenue and will serve 60 months of supervised probation.
“When people cheat on their taxes, they’re cheating their fellow taxpayers,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “That’s why we pursued this case, and I’m proud we won and grateful for our partnership with the Department of Revenue to protect the people of North Carolina.”
Willis was the managing member of Shuckin Shack Oyster Bar, officially known as Katwil LLC, in Morehead City. The case was referred to the Department of Revenue’s Criminal Investigations Division from auditors concerned that the business had underreported the amount of sales tax it had collected between January 2017 and March 2021. DOR conducted an investigation and reviewed business records and bank statements that confirmed the defendant had underpaid the sales tax he collected for nearly five years, totaling $94,510.69 in embezzled fees.
This case was investigated by the Department of Revenue’s Criminal Investigations Division and prosecuted by the Department of Justice’s Special Prosecutions Section.
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