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Baton Rouge Restaurant Owner Faces 175 Years in Prison
Posted on 4/1/11 at 6:26 pm
Posted on 4/1/11 at 6:26 pm
I haven't noticed his name in the press for a few years, so I wasn't sure what became of his situation. Looks like today's article answers that.
quote:
Restaurant owner pleads guilty to bribery, fraud charges
A Baton Rouge man is facing a long prison sentence after pleading guilty to fraud and bribery charges in U.S. District Court.
Jamal Roman, 50, admitted to sending false reports over a five year period for his restaurants in East Baton Rouge and Ascension Parishes to avoid paying sales tax, paying out bribes to EBR auditors and failing to pay payroll taxes on about half the wages earned by employees at his restaurant.
Roman also pled guilty to funneling $700,000 to Syria.
He faces up to 175 years in prison, a fine of $2.75 million and will have to pay restitution.
This case is part of Operation Zenith, an investigation into fraud and corruption in sales and payroll taxes. Six other people have been convicted as a result of Operation Zenith.
Source
4
Posted on 4/1/11 at 6:31 pm to Afreaux
Saw that on the news tonight. Said he owned Roman's. Didn't he have a piece of other restaurants as well? I can't remember.
Posted on 4/1/11 at 6:35 pm to GRITSBabe
I think i played golf with that guy a few times, moral of the story, he smelled like shite
Posted on 4/1/11 at 6:46 pm to GRITSBabe
quote:
Saw that on the news tonight. Said he owned Roman's. Didn't he have a piece of other restaurants as well? I can't remember.
Also owns Mi Padre's. They should send his arse back to Syria.
Posted on 4/1/11 at 6:52 pm to Afreaux
Dont foreigners that open businesses in the U.S. have to only pay half of the sales tax for the first five years of business? Dude must have really not liked paying sales tax.
Posted on 4/1/11 at 6:52 pm to GRITSBabe
quote:
Said he owned Roman's. Didn't he have a piece of other restaurants as well?
He owns Mi Padre's on Bluebonnet, but someone else manages it. I ate there recently and noticed him hanging around, friend of mine that works there says he only shows up once in a while to drink coffee.
The guy is honestly a real prick, I've known more than a few people that had to quit working for him years back.
quote:
I think i played golf with that guy a few times
Long ago, I remember hearing this odd story about how he was playing a round with the guy that owns a local produce business. The guy has a heart attack, and Jamal did something to save his life. After that, the guy sold produce to Jamal at cost.
Couldn't tell you how accurate the story is, but it's one of those weird anecdotes that's hard to forget
Posted on 4/1/11 at 6:56 pm to Afreaux
I stopped patronizing Roman's when this broke a while back. Wasn't there another Middle Eastern restaurant owner caught at the same time?
As a retail owner I have zero sympathy with sales tax cheats, I used to be on a quarterly payment plan, paid monthly anyway, I didn't want that money in my checkbook.
As a retail owner I have zero sympathy with sales tax cheats, I used to be on a quarterly payment plan, paid monthly anyway, I didn't want that money in my checkbook.
Posted on 4/1/11 at 7:06 pm to Afreaux
quote:
Roman also pled guilty to funneling $700,000 to Syria.
I'm assuming terrorism related?
Posted on 4/1/11 at 7:12 pm to andouille
quote:
I stopped patronizing Roman's when this broke a while back. Wasn't there another Middle Eastern restaurant owner caught at the same time?
Arzi's and Cajun Cafe.
quote:quote:
Roman also pled guilty to funneling $700,000 to Syria.
I'm assuming terrorism related?
That's incredibly unlikely.
Posted on 4/1/11 at 8:13 pm to Afreaux
Yeah, it's not likely terrorism. He was just sending his money over there to avoid the IRS. Should have invested in a Swiss bank account like all the real white collar criminals.
Posted on 4/1/11 at 8:19 pm to Afreaux
frick his AL Qaeda funding arse
Posted on 4/1/11 at 10:10 pm to TigerSpy
The Owner of Atcha fled to Jordan because he was indicted for tax evasion. PoBoy Express hires people under the table and severely under-reports cash. They'd be easy pickins for the feds.
The most amazing parts of this story, IMO, is that there are local officials that ACCEPTED BRIBES in the Roman's case. To me, this is worse than cheap-arse foreigners cheating on taxes.
The most amazing parts of this story, IMO, is that there are local officials that ACCEPTED BRIBES in the Roman's case. To me, this is worse than cheap-arse foreigners cheating on taxes.
Posted on 4/1/11 at 10:30 pm to Things and stuff
quote:
The most amazing parts of this story, IMO, is that there are local officials that ACCEPTED BRIBES in the Roman's case. To me, this is worse than cheap-arse foreigners cheating on taxes
This is the part that pissed me off the most. Guy cheating on his taxes, ok that happens. Officials taking bribes to overlook shite, that's the major problem imo.
This post was edited on 4/1/11 at 10:31 pm
Posted on 4/2/11 at 1:23 am to Afreaux
Ate at Roman's long time ago. My g/f and I were one of only two tables in the place and the waitress treated us like crap. We never went back. Send him to GITMO 
Posted on 4/2/11 at 8:46 am to gbftl
I used to do business with him a while back. Not an easy guy to deal with...
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