Ruadhri McCormick, the owner of the Single Shot restaurant on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, was sentenced Monday, Oct. 26, to 13 months in prison for keeping payroll taxes that were taken out of his employees’ paychecks. He owes $1,446,341 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington. Several of the as many as 87 people who worked for him now have Social Security records with gaps.
U.S. District Judge Kimberly K. Evanson also ordered three years of supervised release. Prosecutors had asked for 15 months. McCormick, 44, had pleaded guilty in July to willfully failing to pay over the taxes, and he admitted in his plea agreement that he did not file his own income tax returns for any year from 2015 through 2024.
The people hurt first are the workers. Between 2014 and 2024, McCormick employed as many as 87 servers, bartenders and cooks. Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said in the release that McCormick “chose to use money that should have gone to pay for the employee’s future benefits.” Anyone who worked in a restaurant during those years and is unsure whether an employer passed along their payroll taxes has a quick way to look at their own record.
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What did the owner spend the money on?
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says the money sat in Single Shot’s bank account while McCormick spent it. About $400,000 went to buying and remodeling a home on Vashon Island, nearly $125,000 to casino expenses and more than $38,000 to travel. In her sentencing memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Watts Staniar wrote that “the money sat in Single Shot’s bank account, where McCormick spent it on himself.”
Judge Evanson said the offense “involves a significant breach of public trust.” She added that during the period when taxes were not being paid, he was spending on a home remodel, casino expenses and travel.
How does $1,446,341 add up?
The largest piece is $1,027,362 in taxes withheld from employee paychecks and never sent to the government, covering at least 36 quarters. Another more than $400,000 is the employer’s own share of Social Security, Medicare and federal unemployment taxes that he also did not pay. Together they make the $1,446,341 tax loss, which is the same figure as the restitution order.
Staniar’s memo counts it a little differently, saying the quarterly tax deadline came and went 39 times. “This crime does not reflect a momentary lapse in judgment,” she wrote. The IRS Criminal Investigation announcement of the plea put the most the law allows for the offense at five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and said McCormick agreed to pay the full amount to the IRS.
Carrie Nordyke, the special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Seattle Field Office, called the plea “a step toward justice” and said employers owe their employees honest treatment. Floyd said the victims are the employees, and that McCormick “needs to make this right.”
What do the gaps mean for a worker’s retirement?
Floyd said in the sentencing release: “Unfortunately, the employee’s Social Security work records now show gaps where they don’t have credit for the years they put in at McCormick’s restaurant.” In her sentencing request, Staniar said several employees’ work history appears incomplete for years they worked at Single Shot, meaning their benefits at retirement could be lower.
Social Security builds a worker’s benefit from the earnings reported on that worker’s record, so a year with nothing credited can pull the eventual check down. The release does not say how many of the 87 are affected, how many years are missing, or how the records will be repaired. No repair plan has been announced.
The agency’s own tool is the place to start. A my Social Security account lets people verify their reported earnings, and the Social Security Statement includes an earnings history along with information on how to report an error. Social Security encourages people to review the Statement every year, which turns a missing year from a surprise at retirement into something caught while records can still be sorted out.
Does every year you worked show up on your record?
For the Single Shot workers, the loss is on the earnings side: years of work that never reached the record behind a future check. For anyone else who has had a gap in their history, the same question applies, because a benefit built on a thin record arrives smaller than expected.
The Social Security Check Protection Kit starts after the record is settled and the money is on its way. It is a 75-page guide that includes the 2026 payment calendar and a plan for the first 24 hours when a payment is late, short or wrong. It does not audit or correct an earnings record, which stays with Social Security.
Get the Social Security Check Protection Kit, with the 2026 payment calendar for your benefit →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
David M. Keller is a finance writer based in Columbus, Ohio, covering personal finance and consumer-focused economic topics. He earned his degree in journalism from Ohio University and began his career reporting on local business and economic trends for a regional media outlet. Since then, he has contributed to a variety of online publications, focusing on clear, practical coverage of topics such as cost of living, debt, and everyday financial decision-making.
