from www.detnews.com – Detroit — The owner of two Metro Detroit strip clubs pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to defraud the government.

Nicholas J. Faranso of Farmington Hills, who owns Tycoon’s in Detroit and BT’s Lounge in Dearborn, faces a maximum of five years in prison when sentenced in July.

Court documents showed from 2001-04, Faranso used a computer software program to remove a portion of the sales from his clubs’ computerized sales journals to make it appear they received less income.

Faranso provided the reduced sales figures to his accountant and falsified the clubs’ tax returns by understating their gross receipts by more than $500,000, officials said.

In November, Theodore Kramer, a salesman who provided the software, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy.