Chinatown Restaurateur Tony Hu Charged With Fraud, Money Laundering
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Well-known Chinatown restaurateur Tony Hu has been charged with wire fraud and money laundering for allegedly under-reporting restaurant receipts paid in cash, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
Hu, also known as Hu Xiaojun, 48, of Chicago, owns several popular restaurants in the Chicago area, including Lao Sze Chuan.
Hu was unofficially known as the mayor of Chinatown at one time.
The feds say Hu withheld sales taxes from the Illinois Department of Revenue between 2010 and 2014 when customers paid cash. He would then use that money to pay personal expenses.
Prosecutors said Hu and others discarded most of the bills from the cash sales, and a new total without most of the cash purchases was then calculated.
Hu then fraudulently reported that lower total to the state, prosecutors said.
If convicted, Hu faces a combined maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the gross gain or gross loss resulting from that offense, whichever is greater.