By Matthew D. Lee, Fox Rothschild LLP ( December 6, 2016, 9:45 AM EST) -- On Oct. 18, 2016, a federal judge sentenced a well-known Chicago restaurant owner to prison for carrying out an extensive scheme to avoid paying state sales tax collected from customers of his establishments. Two important lessons may be drawn from this criminal case. First, criminal prosecutions of business owners for avoiding payment of state sales tax, which historically have been pursued by state authorities under state law tax statutes, may now be brought by federal prosecutors using the federal fraud and money laundering statutes. Second, the sentence imposed reflects the growing tendency of judges to impose sentences in tax cases that are below the applicable range as calculated under the United States Sentencing Guidelines....