DUBLIN, Ohio (WCMH) — Gita Rao ,49, of Dublin, Ohio, was sentenced to two years of probation, of which four months is to be served in home confinement, and was ordered to pay $346,733 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for failing to account for and pay over employment taxes to the IRS.

Ganesh Rao, 52, of Dublin, Ohio, was sentenced on January 14, 2020 to three years of probation, of which four months was to be served in a half-way house followed by six months of home incarceration, and was ordered to pay $199,000 in restitution to the IRS for failing to account for and pay over employment taxes to the IRS.

According to court documents, between January 2013 and January 2015 Ganesh Rao and Gita Rao owned and operated Saanil Hospitality, Inc., Saanil Hospitality Mongos Grill, LLC, and Pooja BDS Mongos Grill, LLC.  These three corporate entities each operated a number of fast food restaurants. 

During this same period of time, the Rao’s failed to account for and pay over employment taxes to the IRS, federal income taxes and F.I.C.A. taxes in the amount of $195,363 that were withheld from the compensation of employees of these three corporate entities, as well as the employers’ share of those employment taxes in the amount of $151,411.

For all four quarters of 2013 and 2014, the Rao’s failed to pay over $346,773 in employment taxes to the IRS.

“Employers who chose to not play by the rules create an unfair competitive advantage over those that do,” said Bryant Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office. “They are not only cheating the system and their employees; they are cheating future generations relying on those taxes to help build the future.”

David M. DeVillers, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Bryant Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office, announced the sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus, Jr.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel A. Brown and was investigated by special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation.