A lawsuit filed this week against T.I., his business partner and his restaurant's management group alleges, among other claims, that the rapper's downtown Atlanta restaurant, Scales 925, has not paid state payroll taxes.
Unpaid taxes is what recently got Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffles restaurants temporarily shut down. The Georgia Department of Revenue, with help from local authorities, raided all three locations of the restaurant as well as its corporate headquarters — all operated by Knight's son, Shanga Hankerson.
The raids came as authorities said Hankerson owed the state more than $1 million in taxes and penalties. Authorities allege that Hankerson failed to remit sales and withholding taxes and instead used the money for personal use.
Hankerson, who was released on $20,000 bond from the Clayton County jail , faces two counts of felony theft by taking for some $52,600 in sales tax a Georgia Department of Revenue investigator said was collected in March and April but never sent to the state, according to applications for criminal arrest warrants filed in Clayton County Magistrate Court.
PAST COVERAGE
A number of past employees of T.I.'s downtown restaurant Scales 925 filed suit this week saying they were not paid properly, were forced to work overtime without compensation, had their paychecks docked improperly and weren't given their final paychecks. The suit says they all quit due to their grievances with the restaurant.
Among the suit's claims is the allegation that restaurant management "has not paid payroll tax to the state of Georgia."
The Department of Revenue hasn't responded to a request from the AJC asking whether it's looking into the matter. A Scales 925 manager said a response to the lawsuit was being formulated but that they could not issue a statement yet.
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