CLEVELAND — The former chief financial officer of a Solon-based company that owned the Claddagh Irish Pubs chain has been sentenced to time in federal prison for tax fraud.
Senior Judge Christopher A. Boyko on Thursday ordered Cirian Dillon, 57, to serve 18 months behind bars and also pay a $25,000 fine. Dillon previously admitted to bilking eight states, including Ohio, out of more than $1 million in sales tax revenues.
Dillon, who lives in Orlando, was CFO of CDG Acquisition LLC in Solon. CDG was the parent company for Claddagh Irish Pubs, which used to operate multiple locations in Greater Cleveland.
According to prosecutors, Dillon was the mastermind behind the scheme to pay certain states less sales taxes than were owed, instructing employees to fudge sales numbers and file fake returns. The operations extended across a total of 15 restaurants in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
"It is alleged that one common way to underpay sales tax was for the company to report and pay sales tax for four weeks during a five-week period, leading CDG to collect a week’s worth of sales taxes that were omitted from state sales tax filings," the U.S. Department of Justice said when Dillon was first indicted in 2022.
Dillon eventually decided to plead guilty. While CDG is still operational in Solon, Claddagh no longer sports any locations in Ohio.
