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| Photo - Michigan Attorney General |
Brian Michael Flore (aka Mike), who is the owner of The Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan was recently sentenced to two to five years in prison for 120 counts of failure to file taxes due to not paying sales tax for about 10 years (one count for each month). He supposedly collected $700,000 in sales tax during those years and did not give any to the state of Michigan. He worked out a payment plan with the state, but after missing a few payments, Mike was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay more than $1.5 million in restitution after penalties for fraud and interest were added.
It is unclear if the bar will remain open, but it seems like the bar is looking for investors or looking to sell the business.
The Arena appeared on season four (4th set) of Bar Rescue and the update on this site had Mike saying he did the show pretty much for a free makeover. Maybe he should have been more focused on paying his taxes.
If The Arena closes because of this, I will update the Bar Rescue Update Page, but for now I will keep it as "Open"
(h/t Detroit News)