Cabarrus County businessman Jaya Bhaskar, 62, of Concord, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, September 25, in Wake County Superior Court to three counts of Embezzlement of State Property and five counts of Failure to File/Pay Income Tax. The charges were filed by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.
Superior Court Judge Graham Shirley sentenced Bhaskar to a 16-month minimum, 29-month maximum prison term. The sentence was suspended, and Bhaskar was placed on supervised probation for 24 months and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service. Prior to the plea, Bhaskar paid $201,132.11 in restitution.
Information presented in court showed that Bhaskar, the president of Smart Business Connections, Inc., dba Boost Mobile, aided and abetted the business to embezzle, misapply, and convert to its own use approximately $201,132.11 in North Carolina Sales Tax from November 1, 2014, through November 20, 2017. During this time, Bhaskar was the responsible person of Smart Business Connections, Inc., dba Boost Mobile which was under a duty to collect, hold in trust, and remit North Carolina Sales Tax to the North Carolina Department of Revenue. Additional information revealed that Bhaskar aided and assisted the business to fail to file a North Carolina Corporation Income Tax Return for tax years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
The charges against Bhaskar 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.