Parthenon restaurant founder, daughter withdrew $870K before closure: suit
CHICAGO -- Sotirios Stasinos took over The Parthenon’s kitchen in 1977. Twenty years later, he bought a 25 percent stake in the noted Greektown restaurant, though he insists he was never responsible for the company’s finances.
In September, just days after the 48-year-old staple of Halsted Street was unceremoniously shuttered, Stasinos received notices from the Illinois Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service that said the Parthenon owed nearly $500,000 in unpaid state and federal taxes, according to a lawsuit filed last week. The restaurant also had incurred an additional $231,000 in penalties.
Stasinos filed a lawsuit Thursday against Christos Liakouras, who founded the restaurant and owned 50 percent of it, and Liakouras’ daughter Joanna, who owned the other 25 percent and oversaw the business’ finances.
The former chef alleges the father and daughter withdrew more than $870,000 from the Parthenon to fund other business ventures that Stasinos didn’t know about, all the while failing to make payments on the Parthenon’s mortgage, its state and federal taxes, and employee payroll.
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