Founder of local restaurant chain dies by suicide before scheduled sentencing
When 66-year-old Richard Bhoolai didn't show up Wednesday morning for a scheduled sentencing, there was concern.
Bhoolai's attorney, Kory Jackson, told U.S. District Judge Douglas Cole that he had spoken to Bhoolai the previous evening about the hearing. Bhoolai, the founder of the fast food restaurant chain Richie's, faced a three-year sentence for tax evasion charges.
Jackson told Cole that Bhoolai wasn't answering his phone or responding to text messages.
Cole rescheduled the sentencing for 4 p.m., saying he hoped that Bhoolai hadn't been involved in a vehicle accident.
But the late-afternoon sentencing never took place. Bhoolai had died by suicide.
In an interview, Jackson said that when he talked to Bhoolai Tuesday night, Bhoolai didn't show signs that anything was wrong.
"He sounded like his usual, ebullient self," Jackson said, adding: "It's just really sad that this is how this situation ended."
Bhoolai, a native of the Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, immigrated to the U.S. in the mid-1970s when he was 17, court documents say. He founded the first Richie's in 1986, according to the restaurant's website.
Jackson said in a sentencing memorandum that at its peak, there were "multiple Richie's locations in multiple states."
But according to federal prosecutors, for nearly two decades, Bhoolai "flouted federal law" and actively tried to "delay and deceive the IRS."
Prosecutors say that in 2006, he chose to stop paying his employment taxes. Investigators estimated that ultimately, he was responsible for a tax loss of $2.3 million.
Richie's would withhold taxes from employees' paychecks, including federal income taxes, Medicare and Social Security taxes. But that money was never submitted to the IRS, prosecutors said.
Instead, according to court documents, Bhoolai withdrew more than $1 million from business bank accounts and spent much of it gambling.
Jackson, in the sentencing memorandum, said Bhoolai was "ready to admit that he has a gambling problem and that his loss of large sums of money led him to be convicted of these charges."
Last year, a jury in federal court in Cincinnati found Bhoolai guilty of eight counts of willful failure to pay employment taxes.
In addition to the prison term, prosecutors were seeking nearly $600,000 in restitution.
Anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts can call or text the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 800-273-8255 any time day or night. A chat option is available online at 988lifeline.org/chat.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Richie's founder dies by suicide before sentencing for tax crimes
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