NEWARK, N.J. (CN) - Eight years after he introduced a generation to the Gym-Tan-Laundry lifestyle, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino pleaded guilty Friday to tax fraud.
Prosecutors accused The Situation and his brother, Marc Sorrentino, in 2014 of evading taxes on income of nearly $9 million, but the men’s plea deals in New Jersey are largely silent on numbers.
The Situation, 36, faces up to five years in prison after copping to one count of tax evasion. Marc Sorrentino, 38, faces up to three years for aiding in the preparation of a fraudulent tax return.
While his brother’s deal relates to tax-year 2010, The Situation’s plea covers taxable income he earned in 2011. The Situation told U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton this morning that he tried to hide his financial activities from authorities by making bank deposits in cash amounts of less than $10,000.
Three years earlier, accountant Gregg Mark pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns from the Sorrentino brothers between 2010 and 2013.
“All of us are required by law to pay our fair share of taxes,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said in a statement. “Celebrity status does not provide a free pass from this obligation.”
Attorneys for The Situation said their client intends to make restitution before sentencing, noting that the formerly hard-partying reality TV star has now been sober for two years.
With today’s guilty plea, Sorrentino “has come to terms with mistakes he made at a very different and tumultuous time in his life,” said Henry Klingeman and Kristen Santillo with the firm Krovatin Klingeman.
The attorneys said the terms of agreement “call for a balance between punishing the wrong committed and conditions that facilitate Mike living a productive, law-abiding life moving forward.”
Sorrentino rose to fame with the December 2009 premiere of MTV’s “Jersey Shore.” Though the show has been off the air since 2012, news reports say members of the former cast began filming a reunion season in Miami this week.
Attorneys for The Situation referenced the upcoming season of “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation” in their statement, promising Sorrentino "will continue to entertain millions on ‘Jersey Shore.’”
In the 2014 indictment, prosecutors accused the Sorrentinos of wrongly claiming luxury cars, flashy clothes and other swag as business expenses.
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