Triangle restaurateur accused of embezzling $1.6M in state tax money, AG says

The president of Tobacco Road Sports Cafe — a popular sports bar and restaurant in Raleigh and Durham — was indicted for embezzlement of state property, Attorney General Josh Stein said Friday.

Raed Abel Amra, of Apex was indicted by a Wake County grand jury on 15 counts of aiding and abetting the embezzlement of state property in violation of state law, according to a news release from the Attorney General’s office.

Amra is the president of the business entities that operate two Tobacco Road Sports Cafe locations in Durham and Raleigh. He was also the president of the now-closed Chapel Hill location.

Amra is alleged to have “aided and abetted” his businesses to embezzle more than $1.6 million in sales and use tax from the North Carolina Department of Revenue between October 2012 and December 2019, according to a release.

The Department of Revenue referred the case for prosecution to the Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Section.

Tobacco Road Sports Cafe has a downtown Durham restaurant across from the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, and a restaurant and brewery in downtown Raleigh near Glenwood South.

Raed Amra and his brothers opened the Raleigh restaurant on Glenwood Avenue in 2008. It’s now on West Jones Street, The News & Observer previously reported.