Capitol Hill restaurant Single Shot remains open as its owner has been sentenced to 13 months in prison and three years of supervised release for failing to pay more than $1.4 million in payroll taxes over a ten-year span, using some of the cash, federal prosecutors said in their announcement this week, to “remodel a home on Vashon Island.”
“This offense involves a significant breach of public trust,” U.S. District Judge Kimberly Evanson reportedly said during the sentencing hearing. “During the period when taxes were not being paid, he was spending on a home remodel, casino expenses, and travel.”
The announcement from the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington caps a legal process that first came to light this summer as prosecutors charged Rory McCormick with one count of Willful Failure to Pay Over Tax in the case that included $1,027,362 in unpaid employee taxes and another $418,979 in employer-side payroll taxes owed to the IRS.
McCormick agreed to plead guilty a week later.
According to the case documents, 87 employees at the restaurant had money withheld from their paychecks under the false premise that the taxes were being paid, reducing their actual take-home pay while their employer diverted the funds to personal luxuries. Because these payroll taxes were never sent to the IRS, several workers were left with uncredited gaps in their official work histories, jeopardizing their eligibility and lowering their future Social Security and Medicare retirement benefits, prosecutors say.
McCormick opened Single Shot on Summit in 2014, replacing a former photography gallery and helping grow a cluster of neighborhood food and drink on the block. CHS visited with Single Shot in December 2024 to mark its 10th anniversary neighboring The original Top Pot Doughnuts, Summit Public House, Cornelly, and Sol Liquor Lounge.
The Single Shot case does not include charges related to other McCormick restaurants in Seattle. He has operated Re:Public and El Grito Taqueria in partnerships. No other restaurants are named in the case. At Single Shot, the restaurant veteran is the sole registered agent, according to state filings.
Prosecutors said McCormick also admitted in his plea deal that he did not file his personal income taxes from any tax year 2015 through 2024.
The investigation found that McCormick spent nearly $400,000 buying and remodeling a home on Vashon Island, nearly $125,000 on casinos expenses, and more than $38,000 on travel over the decade.
He has been ordered to pay $1,446,341 in restitution as part of the deal.
A 13-month sentence is shorter than typical federal tax fraud cases of this scale. Standard sentencing guidelines usually recommend two to three years in prison for a theft of this size.
Because the term exceeds one year, McCormick qualifies for federal good-conduct credits which can reduce his actual time behind bars to roughly 11 months.
Single Shot has remained open at 611 Summit Ave E.
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