Ruadhri McCormick sentenced to prison for $1,446,341 tax fraud

Ruadhri McCormick, the owner and operator of the Single Shot restaurant in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to 13 months in prison and three years of supervised release for willfully failing to pay over more than $1.4 million in unemployment, Social Security, and Medicare taxes, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Ruadhri McCormick, 44, of Seattle, owns and operates Single Shot restaurant.

Between 2014 and 2024, McCormick employed as many as 87 people working as servers, bartenders, and cooks at the restaurant. While payroll taxes were actively withheld from employee paychecks, McCormick kept the funds instead of remitting them to the Internal Revenue Service. Prosecutors noted that the evasion spanned thirty-nine separate quarterly tax deadlines over a decade.

A Decade of Deficits and Diverted Funds

The total tax loss reached $1,446,341, encompassing $1,027,362 in employee withholdings across at least thirty-six quarters, alongside more than $400,000 in unpaid employer portions for Social Security, Medicare, and federal unemployment taxes. In addition to the restaurant payroll infractions, McCormick admitted in his plea agreement that he failed to file personal income taxes for any tax year from 2015 through 2024.

Court records and investigations by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) revealed where the missing money went. Federal authorities found that McCormick spent nearly $400,000 to buy and remodel a home on Vashon Island, directed nearly $125,000 toward casino expenses, and spent more than $38,000 on travel.

This offense involves a significant breach of public trust… During the period when taxes were not being paid, he was spending on a home remodel, casino expenses, and travel.

U.S. District Judge Kimberly K. Evanson

Judge Kimberly K. Evanson

Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd emphasized the direct impact on workers, noting that the withheld money was supposed to be held in trust. Because the taxes were never paid, employees’ Social Security work records show gaps where they lack credit for the years they spent working at Single Shot, potentially lowering their future retirement benefits.

McCormick Receives 13 Months Prison and Restitution Order

The sentencing follows a guilty plea entered earlier in the year, as documented by IRS.gov. During those proceedings, prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of no more than 15 months, though U.S. District Judge Kimberly K. Evanson retained the discretion to impose any sentence allowed by law before ultimately settling on 13 months.

Alongside the prison term and supervised release, McCormick was ordered to pay $1,446,341 in full restitution to the IRS. Assistant United States Attorney Lauren Staniar prosecuted the case, arguing that the repeated failure to pay over a ten-year window represented a continuous, conscious decision rather than a momentary lapse in judgment. McCormick failed to pay employment taxes for about a decade—from 2014 through 2024, AUSA Staniar wrote in her sentencing memo. This crime does not reflect a momentary lapse in judgment. Thirty-nine times McCormick’s quarterly taxes came due, and thirty-nine times he made the conscious decision not to pay them. Special Agent in Charge Carrie Nordyke of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Seattle Field Office noted regarding the missing funds, McCormick took advantage of this trust and kept over $1 million of these funds for himself.