On June 4, 2024, Mecklenburg County businessman Matt R. Coben, 63, of Boynton Beach, FL, pleaded guilty to three counts of Embezzlement of State Property in Wake County Superior Court. The North Carolina Department of Revenue filed the tax charges.
Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins placed Coben on unsupervised probation for 12 months, and as a condition of probation, Coben was ordered to perform 250 hours of community service and pay court costs. Prior to the plea, Coben paid $92,182.48 in restitution.
Information presented in court showed that Coben, managing member of 7 Branches, LLC dba Growler USA, aided and abetted the business to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its own use approximately $92,128.48 in North Carolina Sales Tax from January 1, 2016, through January 31, 2019. During this time, Coben, the responsible person of 7 Branches, LLC dba Growler USA, was under a duty to collect, hold in trust, and remit North Carolina Sales Tax to the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
The charges against Coben resulted from an investigation by special agents with the Department’s Criminal Investigations Division in Raleigh and was prosecuted by the Special Prosecutions attorneys in the office of the Attorney General.