Legal Issues

Cincinnati Restaurant Owner Under Arrest For Tax Fraud

Cincinnati Restaurant Owner Under Arrest For Tax Fraud

The owner of a Cincinnati fast-food restaurant chain has been placed under arrest for tax fraud. 

Richard Bhoolai was taken into custody on April 29, 2023 following a joint investigation by the Hamilton County Police Department and the IRS Criminal Investigation division. He was subsequently indicted for willfully failing to pay over-employment taxes. 

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Credit: Choochart Choochaikupt /EyeEm/Getty Images

According to an official release from the IRS, Bhoolai is the owner and Chief Executive Officer of Richie's Fast Food Restaurants. From Q4 2016 and through the Q4 2018, Richie's Fast Food Restaurant withheld payroll taxes from its employees' paychecks. Bhoolai, however, neglected to file any of his quarterly tax returns during that period of time, thus failing to actually deliver any payroll to the IRS, as required by law.

Bhoolai functioned as a sole proprietor, meaning he alone was legally responsible for ensuring timely tax payments.

In addition to failing to pay his taxes, Bhoolai allegedly used hundreds of thousands of dollars from his fast food business for personally expenses, including gambling activity involving over $1 million. 

The charge against Bhoolai carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. It is not yet known if Bhoolai will enter a guilty plea or have a jury trial. 

At this time, Richie's still has a functional website, and it appears that the brand's locations are still operating normally. No information about the future of the brand has been publicly provided at this time. It is unlikely that Bhoolai will maintain ownership.

Richie's has three Cincinnati locations that serve chicken and other "down home" style food. 

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Credit: Douglas Sacha/Getty Images

Addresses and current hours have been provided below:

AVONDALE 

110 Woolper Ave., Cincinnati, OH 45220

Tel: 513-559-1878

Sun-Thu 10:00am-1:00am; Fri-Sat 10:00am-3:00am

BOND HILL 

4871 Reading Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45237

Tel: 513-641-1878

Fax: 513-641-1828

Sun-Thu 10:00am-1:00am; Fri-Sat 10:00am-3:00am

DOWNTOWN

1301 Linn St., Cincinnati, OH 45203

Tel: 513-241-1876

Sun-Thu 10:00am-1:00am; Fri-Sat 10:00am-3:00am

Have you ever gone to a Richie's restaurant? What do you think about this case?

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Rebekah Barton

Rebekah Barton

Rebekah's search engine optimization career began completely by accident as a college student. Over the course of her career so far, she has "grown up" with the SEO industry, from writing content while juggling classes to managing her own teams of writers and overseeing SEO strategy in subsequent roles. She is excited to bring her passion for high-quality content to CountingWorks, Inc.

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