Ohio Restaurant Owner Convicted of Employment Tax Crimes

After five days of trial, a federal jury convicted Richard Bhoolai, 65, of Cincinnati, today for failing to pay taxes he withheld from employees’ wages at three restaurants he owned and operated. 

According to evidence presented at trial, Bhoolai owned and operated Richie’s Fast Food Restaurants Inc., an S-Corporation used to operate three fried chicken restaurants in the Cincinnati area since 1991. Bhoolai was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from employees’ wages and paying those funds over to the IRS. Bhoolai employed between 22 and 34 employees between at least 2017 and 2018. During that time, he withheld taxes from employees’ wages but did not pay them over to the IRS. Prior to that time, Bhoolai had not paid over such taxes from earlier years and the IRS had assessed a penalty against him for failing to do so. Instead of paying over the taxes, Bhoolai used money from the businesses for his personal benefit, including gambling.

The jury found Bhoolai guilty of eight counts of failing to pay over taxes for four quarters in 2017 and four quarters in 2018. Bhoolai’s sentencing date has not yet been set. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each failure to pay taxes count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. U.S. District Judge Douglas R. Cole for the Southern District of Ohio presided over the jury trial.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker for the Southern District of Ohio made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Alexandra K. Fleszar of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ebunoluwa Taiwo for the Southern District of Ohio prosecuted the case.