This company is related to (owned by wife) Larry Barasch formerly a guest of the NJ Corrections Department and former owner of Great Feelings Spas.
He has posted on this board in the past.
He was convicted of failing to remit NJ Sales tax collected on his companies sales.
His company went bankrupt after taking 50-100% deposits from 118 consumers.
Please make your own decisions.
Please review the following:
http://www.allbusiness.com/periodicals/article/616261-1.html http://www.corporations.state.pa.us/corp/soskb/Corp.asp?2145517 Published in the Asbury Park Press 7/24/02
Defense documents say Larry Barasch is a businessman who had to declare
bankruptcy, not a criminal.
By ELAINE SILVESTRINI
FREEHOLD BUREAU
FREEHOLD -- A spa salesman accused of defrauding dozens of customers by
taking their
money and then declaring bankruptcy is asking a judge to dismiss an
indictment on
grounds the prosecution is illegally using the criminal courts to circumvent
bankruptcy laws.
Larry Barasch, 45, owner and president of Great Feeling Spas in Marlboro,
was indicted in
March on charges of theft and tax evasion.
Authorities alleged that between June 1 and Nov. 30, 2001, Barasch collected
nearly
$400,000 from approximately 60 customers as payment for spas and hot tubs
that he never
ordered. Barasch then declared bankruptcy when it came time for the
merchandise to be
delivered.
But in a brief filed with Superior Court Judge Patricia Del Bueno Cleary for
a motion
scheduled to be heard in September, Barasch's lawyer, Scott F. Griffith,
said the defendant
fell into financial difficulties as a result of a severe dropoff in business
following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and because of a sudden demand on
the part of the state Division of
Taxation that he immediately pay more than $150,000 in back taxes that he
had been
working to pay over time.
The tax demand forced Barasch to file for bankruptcy, according to the
defense brief: "The
officials from the Division of Taxation emphasised strongly that if Mr.
Barasch did not seek
bankruptcy protection, the state was prepared to close down the business and
seize all
assets. Six days later, on Nov. 21, 2001, Mr. Barasch filed for bankruptcy
in an effort to
reorganize and restructure his tax obligations and to enable him to satisfy
his customers."
The defense asserts that Barasch, as someone who has filed for bankruptcy,
"is entitled to
an automatic stay against certain claims against him. The purpose of the
stay is to save the
debtor from harassment inflicted upon him by his creditors. In this case,
the state is
improperly using its criminal laws to circumvent the bankruptcy code in an
effort to seek
reprisals and harass Mr. Barasch on behalf of dissatisfied creditors of
Great Feelings
Spas."
The brief paints Barasch as a victim of overzealous customers, his spa
supplier in
California, the state and the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, which the
defense
describes as ignoring clear evidence that Barasch was not acting
fraudulently.
"The indictment," the defense maintains, "should be dismissed because it was
fundamentally unfair for the state to bring an indictment against Mr.
Barasch and then to
present misleading evidence to the grand jury. Moreover, the state's conduct
in indicting Mr.
Barasch rises to the level of prosecutorial misconduct because their use of
false and
misleading evidence before the grand jury rendered the proceedings
fundamentally unfair."
Griffith cites testimony relating to an e-mail sent by
Matawan Councilwoman Sharon Roselli
to the Prosecutor's Office, in which she bemoans being a
victim of Barasch's "scheme."
Grand jurors were not told, according to the defense, that
Roselli actually received a spa and
gazebo before the grand jury convened.
Contacted yesterday, Roselli confirmed the defense depiction
of her situation. She said she
sent the e-mail after reading a newspaper account of the
case.
"I thought I had been ripped off," she said. "I've got to
tell you the truth. I have no complaints
about the gentleman, other than the fact that the warrantees
that were supposed to be
honored after the spa was delivered weren't honored. Delivery
was fine. The installation was
as planned."
She said Barasch actually delivered the spa nearly two months
earlier than he was
obligated. "I was quite happy," she said.
