Raleigh business owner accused of diverting $777,878 in taxes for personal use

A Raleigh business owner is accused of siphoning nearly $777,878 in state and Wake County taxes through two local companies, a case that officials say struck at public revenue and the fairness owed to businesses that follow the rules.

Donish Lee Uddin, 32, of Raleigh, owns Courtside NC, LLC and Courtside NC Online, LLC, according to the North Carolina Department of Revenue. State officials accuse him of embezzling, misapplying and converting the money for personal use from June 1, 2018, through Dec. 31, 2022. He also allegedly failed to file corporate and individual tax returns for both businesses and himself from 2018 through 2022.

The case matters well beyond one business address. Sales tax collected by a company is not its money to spend, and state law requires those funds to be held in trust and remitted to the Department. When that money is diverted, the loss falls on state and county revenue streams that help pay for services Wake County residents rely on, while competing businesses that turn over taxes on time are left carrying the burden of compliance.

Uddin faces six counts of embezzlement of state property, eight counts of misdemeanor willful failure to file North Carolina corporation income tax returns and five counts of misdemeanor willful failure to file North Carolina individual income tax returns. He was arrested Monday, released the same day on a $200,000 unsecured bond and is scheduled for a first appearance in Wake County court on May 18.

In similar state tax cases, the Department of Revenue says investigations are typically handled by special agents with its Criminal Investigations Division in Raleigh and prosecuted by attorneys in the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office. Wake County has seen several such cases in recent years. In 2025, an Apex businessman pleaded guilty in Wake County Superior Court to 15 felony state tax charges tied to more than $1.7 million in alleged sales-tax diversion. In 2022, a Wake County wine-and-beer retailer pleaded guilty to five counts of embezzlement of state property and was ordered to pay remaining restitution of $268,776.14. In 2024, a Rowan County case involved an alleged $123,756.53 in diverted sales tax.

The accusation against Uddin places Raleigh and Wake County back in the spotlight on a basic question of trust: whether a business that collects taxes from customers will safeguard that money or treat it like private revenue. For local owners who remit every dollar they owe, the alleged diversion is not just a criminal case. It is a reminder that tax compliance is part of the competitive field itself.