The U.S. District Court sentenced one co-owner of a chain of Washington bikini coffee stands on Oct. 9 in a multimillion-dollar tax avoidance case.<\/p>\n
Rajesh Mathew, 45, of Auburn pleaded guilty in March 2024 to making and subscribing a false tax return.<\/p>\n
At his Oct. 9 sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Tana Lin stated, “there is no excuse for hiding half a million dollars in a life of privilege, except greed.”<\/p>\n
His brother-in-law, Assad Baragzai, 47, of Auburn, pleaded guilty on Aug. 29 in the U.S. District Court in Seattle to having created and subscribing a false tax return, and having not reported up to $6 million in income between 2016 and 2020, according to court documents.<\/p>\n
Mathew and Baragzai are the owners of Ladybug Espresso, a bikini barista coffee stand chain with locations in Seattle, Renton, Kent, Auburn and more. According to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice, various members of Mathew and Baragzai’s family own several coffee stands.<\/p>\n
The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation department investigated the case.<\/p>\n
”The sentencing today is the first in a series of cases,” according to the DOJ.<\/p>\n
Judge Lin sentenced Mathew to 30 days in prison, a $5,000 fine, and 100 hours of community service for tax fraud.<\/p>\n
The court rejected Mathew’s defense team’s request for a sentence of home confinement as a result of the proposal not reflecting the seriousness of the offense and serving as inconvenient, according to the DOJ.<\/p>\n
Mathew finished paying restitution to the Internal Revenue Service at the time of his sentencing. He potentially faces additional civil penalties, fines, and interest for the tax loss.<\/p>\n
Judge Lin will sentence Baragzai in a hearing scheduled for Nov. 18, where he faces up to three years in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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