— The owner of a popular Apex restaurant hasn't turned over employee withholding taxes to the Internal Revenue Service at various times in the past eight years, federal court records show.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint Wednesday seeking a court order compelling Peak Hospitality Group LLC and managing partner Steven Adams to pay $681,764 in unemployment and Social Security taxes owed to the IRS.

Peak Hospitality owns . According to the complaint, the company withheld money from employees' paychecks but never turned it over to the government as required.

The IRS has been trying to recoup the money since 2015, sending Adams various notices and even pulling money from Peak Hospitality's bank accounts, credit card transactions and accounts receivable, according to the complaint.

"These efforts to collect the taxes owed by Peak Hospitality Group have not prompted it to comply with its employment tax obligations, which it has continually failed to meet, resulting in ever-increasing liabilities," the complaint states. "The defendants continue to flout the federal tax laws and accrue further tax liabilities. Accordingly, an injunction by this court ordering the defendants to comply with their federal tax obligations is necessary and appropriate for the enforcement of the internal revenue laws."

If the company violates such a court order, authorities said it should be liquidated and its assets sold off to pay its bills to the IRS and other creditors, the complaint states.

Peak Hospitality's other restaurants, Blistered Pig and Cantina 2 twenty five, have closed in recent months.