EZjet boss Sonny Ramdeo was on Wednesday arrested in Brooklyn, New York on a charge of embezzlement from his former employer.
The Florida newspaper Sun Sentinel yesterday reported federal prosecutors as saying that Ramdeo faces charges of embezzling US$20 million ($4B) from his former employer in a payroll tax fraud scheme. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation in a statement on Wednesday said that he was formally indicted on December 6, 2012 and made his first appearance in a New York court on Wednesday.
While Ramdeo was arrested in New York he will likely face trial in Florida, according to Annette Castillo, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, in Miami.
The report said that from as early as 2005, Ramdeo, 35, worked as the payroll supervisor at Promise Healthcare Inc. and Success Healthcare Group. The Sun Sentinel said that as the payroll supervisor for both companies, Ramdeo managed the payroll for more than 3,500 employees in hospitals nationwide.
Federal officials charge that Ramdeo incorporated PayServ Tax Inc., and told the hospital chains he would handle the transfer of local, state and federal payroll taxes to the proper agencies on their behalf. Instead, authorities charge, he kept the money.
In October, Promise Health-care filed a lawsuit accusing Ramdeo of embezzling more than US$5 million to keep his airline afloat.
Ramdeo’s legal troubles came shortly before the US Department of Transportation suspended its air service, throwing the airline into turmoil and leaving hundreds on both sides of the Atlantic stranded and out of pocket. Refunds have since begun.
The Palm Beach Post in its online edition is reporting that Ramdeo, of Sunrise, Florida was charged with three counts of wire fraud, which could send him to prison for 20 years.
The indictment alleges that from Sep-tember 2003 until October of this year, Ramdeo wired money into his accounts that was to have been used to cover payroll taxes for Promise Health-care’s roughly 3,500 workers. He formed two companies, Payserv Tax and EZjet GT, to receive the money, prosecutors said.
The chain of private hospitals is owned by the same people who own the management company. They own hospitals in seven states. The only Florida location is Promise Hospital of Florida, the Palm Beach Post said.
According to the indictment, in 2011 and 2012 Ramdeo made two transfers, totalling US$363,700, to his account that was to be used for payroll taxes at a hospital in East Los Angeles. In October, he diverted US$100,828 that was to cover payroll taxes for employees of a hospital in Gonzales, La.
After reports that he was being sought by the FBI in the embezzlement case, Ramdeo apparently went into hiding but said via several press releases issued in EZjet’s name that he was in contact with the FBI.
