New York's crime-fighting Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is usually immersed in the task of fighting crime on a large scale.

He did however, take time to handle a smaller crime, in which a restaurant owner was allegedly pocketing the tips given to his waiters and waitresses.

An investigation by Spitzer's office between 2003 and 2004 found the owner of the New Delhi Diamond's Restaurant in Ithaca, New York, demanded that its waiting staff turn over all tips left by customers.

While the case is a far cry from leading a group of regulators and squeezing $1.4 billion out of Wall Street's top investment banks for improper research practices, Spitzer deems it no less important.

Restaurateur Baldhev Sekhon has now agreed to pay $10,000 in restitution to his staff. "State law is clear that tipped workers have a right to keep their tips," said Spitzer, who is seeking election next year to become New York's governor.