No Taxes For You! ‘Soup Nazi’ Exec Hit With Evasion Charges.

Image by Original Soupman

By Josh Nathan-Kazis May 23, 2017

No taxes for you!

The chief financial officer of a restaurant chain named for Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi” is facing federal tax evasion charges amid allegations that he paid the chain’s employees off the books.

Robert Bertrand was indicted in federal court in Brooklyn on 20 counts of failure to pay Medicare, Social Security, and federal income taxes. His company, Soupman, Inc., licenses the name of Al Yeganeh, the strict soup maker who inspired the recurring Seinfeld villain.

The chain’s stores are called The Original Soupman.

According to prosecutors, Bertrand’s actions cheated the government out of $590,000 in taxes.

“As alleged, the United States was fleeced out of more than half a million dollars through the defendant’s corporate misdeeds,” Acting United States Attorney Bridget M. Rohde said in a statement. “Tax crimes like those alleged in the indictment hurt every American citizen.”

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO