Aria MediSpa owner Bankrupts Touch of Asia, LLC and Thai Institute of Healing Arts, LLC
The following message went out to all former customers of Touch of Asia (formerly in Sterling). I was a repeat customer with them for years and believe they were a good, ethical business. It's horrible what has been done to them by Aria MediSpa in Centerville. Please read below and boycott Aria MediSpa & their crooked business practices:
*Russian Businessman Jacob Bogatin, "owner of Aria MediSpa", along with Lamar Sharp and Be Khambay Bankrupt Touch of Asia, LLC and Thai Institute of Healing Arts, LLC*
In March 2015 I left the USA to move to Thailand with my family. Our long term plans of relocating to Thailand were actively pursued for over 3-5 years and it was time for us to relocate.
I decided to leave both of my businesses open to help the employees continue to be employed and for the clients to continue to receive our quality services. I know the employees would not find another place to work that provides the same opportunities as my businesses and I knew the client's would find it difficult to find another place to provide the same high standards of care. I decided I would continue to leave the businesses open as long as they could be operated in the same way in which we have been expected to operate by our clients over the last 13-years.
In February 2015, I was offered $1,000,000 USD for both businesses. I declined this offer because I felt the spirit that was breathed into from the beginning would be lost. I never put money as the number #1 factor of what I wanted to achieve with Touch of Asia or the Thai Institute. It was about helping others through our work and we definitely helped many many people over the years. So declining $1,000,000 was an easy decision for me.
Our Arlington, VA location "Thai Institute" faced many difficulties over the last 4-years from the aggressive landlord and I finally decided it was best to close and keep Touch of Asia open.
Within a week or so of Thai Institute's closure, I discovered that Lamar Sharp was stealing money from the business by not reporting any income. There was no money coming into the business through normal expected payments that are easily tracked. I made a decision to close with just 3-weeks notice because the company was being squeezed dry. My family in Thailand is the most important to me, I could not travel back to the USA to solve this issue that Lamar was creating for everyone.
Once I announced the closure of Touch of Asia, a Russian Businessman, Jacob Bogatin owner of Aria MediSpa, went to my business and negotiate a "deal" with Lamar Sharp in which Lamar gave Jacob complete and unfiltered access to Touch of Asia client records. To broker this deal, Lamar forced all Touch of Asia employees on duty to immediately leave the office so that him and Jacob could discuss their "deal" and how to best orchestrate their activities.
Their goal, steal you away from Touch of Asia and get you to patronize their business.
Almost immediately Lamar started to talk to clients about Aria MediSpa, business cards were handed out, free gifts were given, and clients were told that Touch of Asia was not offering any refunds to its clients. This was done in order to make you angry at Touch of Asia ("me") so that you would then go to Aria MediSpa for your service in which Jacob wanted to appear to be so gracious to offer a 50% credit of your prepaid account at Touch of Asia.
Touch of Asia was offering refunds to all clients and Lamar was instructed to inform every client to contact me via email for a refund. After two weeks of nobody contacting me, I knew there had to be some sort of a problem. Only four clients contacted me during this time and informed me Lamar was instructing clients that no refunds were being offered then instead attempting to "lure" them away to Aria MediSpa.
I started to investigate this issue and found the following.
1.) There were no bank deposits for several weeks.
2.) Lamar assumed the title and role of manager at Touch of Asia.
3.) Aria MediSpa was being promoted to Touch of Asia clients without approval.
4.) Jacob and Lamar were applying a tremendous amount of pressure to employees at Touch of Asia to work at Aria MediSpa.
5.) Client's personal records were stolen and shared by Lamar with Jacob for the purposes of "lure" clients to Aria MediSpa and helping Aria MediSpa become more profitable.
6.) Aria MediSpa started to email Touch of Asia clients using stolen personal data.
7.) Lamar used a forged contract agreement given to him by Jacob that claimed I sold Jacob Touch of Asia assets to manipulate the employees at Touch of Asia and others who attempted to gain insight into the matter to understand why certain steps were being taken without my approval.
8.) Lamar and Be sold all property from Touch of Asia and kept all proceeds committing grand larceny punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
9.) Lamar and Be stole all remaining property from Touch of Asia, once again, committing grand larceny punishable by up to 20 years in prison. (See attached photos)
10.) After stealing all the property at Touch of Asia and any proceeds from the sale of property, the Touch of Asia office key was given to Jacob at Aria MediSpa by Lamar.
11.) Upon research and consultation with law enforcement, I learned that Lamar was recently arrested for "solicitation of sex from minors" through an internet "sting" by the Prince William Police Department (See this link at the Washington Post.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/detectives-posed-as-young-girls-in-online-sting-that-led-to-seven-arrests/2015/05/07/34a080b2-f4db-11e4-bcc4-e8141e5eb0c9_story.html)
With the criminal activity that has transpired by Jacob, Lamar, and Be…..the theft of money for several weeks, grand larceny of all property at Touch of Asia, and theft of personal client data, my companies are now bankrupt and I have no funds nor accurate data in which to attempt to issue refunds to anyone.
Any and all plans I made for a slow gradual closure with refunds for those that desired them, have been completely wiped away by the greed of these three individuals. With Jacob, Lamar, and Be stealing data, information, property, cash, and assets, they have also stolen my ability to issue any sort of refund in an organized and appropriate way. These three individuals have shared many false truths with clients to attempt to manipulate the circumstances in their favor (i.e. get your business). I have always operated my businesses with the utmost professionalism and respect for all.
I wish I did not need to send this email, as it's not an easy one to write however it's the correct and proper thing to do to inform you of the actions of these people and why everything crumbed so quickly at the end.
I wish I could have executed on all the plans I had however these individuals ensured it didn't happen as they attempted to manipulate the situation to cast light that would favor them. In affect, they took advantage of me being out of the country knowing that I would prioritize my family over returning to the USA.
I wish you well. I apologize for any actual or perceived fault on my part. I never expected Lamar and Be would conduct themselves in this manner. The employees that worked with them are also shocked as well and is why they did not follow them to Aria MediSpa.
I have the highest amount of gratitude for my valued and trusted employees from so many years of service to our community. They are the people that made Touch of Asia and the Thai Institute so special.
Thank you for reading and thank you for understanding. This is the last public email I will send regarding these two businesses.
I will always remember and focus on the positive and outstanding benefits we shared over 13-years not the last 3 weeks of criminal activity by just 3 people.