Business

Rancid Xmas for grocer

Adem Arici, the co-founder of the upscale Zeytuna and Amish Market grocery store chains who was charged last year with masterminding a $56 million tax evasion scheme, will spend another Christmas in jail.

A federal judge in White Plains, NY, yesterday denied the embattled businessman bail for a fourth time. Prosecutors argued that Arici, who has both US and Turkish citizenship, is a flight risk.

Arici has been in a Westchester federal lockup since Dec. 1, 2011, when, roughly six months before his tax charge, he was arrested for going to Cuba in defiance of a US embargo.

Assistant US Attorney Perry Carbone argued that Arici “travels all over the world,” including to Cuba and Turkey, and he maintains a bank account in Costa Rica.

Prosecutors also documented wire transfers of hundreds of thousands of dollars to Arici from a Costa Rican bank.

Last week two other defendants in the tax case — Erdal Kilic and Armagan Tanir — pleaded guilty and are expected to cooperate with the government in its case against Arici.

The trial against Arici and the other defendants on the tax charges is set for June 17.