Date: Oct. 7, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Vishal Dhar of New Canaan, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by two years of supervised release, for tax evasion. According to court documents and statements made in court, Dhar formed and operated various entities, including Grey Brown, Inc. (a holding company for several restaurants operating under the name “Oaxaca Taqueria”), West Partners, Inc., and NY Cloud Kitchens, LLC. From approximately October 2013 through August 2023, Dhar willfully failed to disclose to the Internal Revenue Service significant income from his business and gifts from family members. Instead of paying his outstanding tax liabilities, Dhar paid off personal and business debts, invested in a new business venture, and paid various personal expenses. In evading his payment of taxes owed, Dhar used financial accounts in the names of entities and other individuals rather than in his own name, paid personal expenses with corporate funds, and omitted significant assets on IRS forms. In addition, in the bankruptcy case In re Grey Brown Inc., filed in the Southern District of New York, Dhar failed to disclose the receipt of an Employee Retention Credit check in amount of $254,203.01 made payable to Oaxaca Atlantic Avenue, LLC. The Employee Retention Credit is a refundable tax credit for certain eligible businesses and tax-exempt organizations that had employees and were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the 2011 through 2020 tax years, Dhar owed $272,390.07 in back taxes, penalties, and interest. Dhar has paid full restitution to the IRS. Dhar pleaded guilty on May 23, 2024. Dhar, who is released on bond, is required to report to prison on Feb. 12, 2025. This matter was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David T. Huang. IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
