He was the best dressed perp in the courtroom.
Custom tailor to the stars Mohan “Mike” Ramchandani — who has outfitted Rudolph Giuliani, Ed Koch, NBA legend Walt Frazier and more Knicks than he’s said he can remember, starting with Patrick Ewing — was hauled in handcuffs into a Manhattan courtroom today for failing to pay nearly $3 million dollars in sales, personal and corporate taxes.
“Mistakes,” Ramchandani called his wrongdoings, which will eventually put him in an off-the-rack correctional jumpsuit for one to three years. His sentencing and surrender was set for Sept. 18.
“I made several mistakes with regard to the payment of taxes and I take full responsibility for my actions,” the tax-tinkering tailor said in a written statement handed to reporters today by his publicist, who accompanied him to court.
“I have told authorities of my intent to pay all monies owed and the penalties through an agreed upon schedule,” the statement read. “Indeed, I have already paid a substantial portion of what I owe.”
Since 2007, Ramchandani failed to pay $1.7 million in sales tax, $864,000 in corporate income tax, and $250,000 in personal income tax, according to the charges brought against him by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
One of the things that gave him away, authorities said, was his belief in numerology. Every time Ramchandani reported a sales tax number on a document, he made sure the number’s individual digits added up to a multiple of ten — resulting in a repetition of numbers that couldn’t have happened by chance, authorities said.
For example, in one quarter he claimed to owe $13,484 in sales taxes, a number Ramchandani apparently chose because 1+3_4_8+4 equals 20, which is a multiple of ten.
Ramchandani came to court today in a custom-tailored — of course — conservative three-piece dark navy suit, with a diagonally striped blue, red, chartreuse and gold tie and a pale lavender shirt, distinguishing himself in a crowd of rumpled hoodies and sweats.
He pleaded guilty to felony filing of false tax documents and falsifying business records. Factoring in penalties and interest, his total tax bill is $5.5 million, authorities said. He has so far paid back $750,000, and has agreed to pay the balance within 24 months, said his lawyer, James Druker.
Ramchandani, whose business, “Mohan’s Custom Tailors, Inc.,” is across from Grand Central Terminal on East 42nd Street, additionally faces related federal charges for failing to pay federal income tax, authorities said.
“Every man needs 15 suits — some solid, some stripes and one plaid,” Ramchandani once told a New York Post reporter for a feature story in June, 2010.
In that story, Frazier told The Post that he has gone to Ramchandani twice a year since the ’80s for new suits. Other customers include Mets shortstop Jose Reyes and NFL player Ed “Too Tall” Jones. His first celebrity client was Ewing, then a seven-foot-tall basketball star at Georgetown University. Ramchandani became Ewing’s personal tailor, and Ewing became Ramchandani’s best business reference among well-heeled sports stars.
“Custom-made elegance at retail prices,” his press release from today continued to promise into the indefinite future. The tailoring company — which measures and fits suits here to be sewn by Hong Kong — will continue to operate while he’s in prison, Ramchandani’s publicist said.