Grand jury indicts Michigan steakhouse owner on federal charges of hiring, housing undocumented workers
A Metro Detroit restaurant owner was indicted by a grand jury earlier this week on federal charges alleging he housed workers without legal work authorization in suburban homes and shuttled them to work in his three Japanese steakhouses.
Yong Ni, who owns Kyoto Japanese Steakhouse locations, faces 10 federal counts, including harboring and unlawfully employing immigrants and possessing a fraudulent immigrant visa, according to an indictment unsealed Friday.
Ni was arrested and appeared in federal court. Authorities say Ni owns homes in Shelby Township and Royal Oak, where officers found 28 people living. Seventeen of those people were identified as being in the United States illegally and without work authorization.
Investigators say Ni hired these individuals to work at his restaurants and arranged for them to live at his properties. They also allege Ni directed people without valid documents to other employees to get fake permanent resident and social security cards.
NI is also accused of obtaining his own permanent residency by not disclosing a previous exclusion order from 1995, when he tried to enter the U.S. with a fake passport.
"We will investigate and prosecute employers who harbor illegal aliens. These criminal employers profit from lawbreaking. And they do it at the expense of the American worker," U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. said.
If convicted, NI could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Prosecutors say they could also move to forfeit two properties and three vehicles seized during the probe — a 2019 Toyota RAV4, a 2020 Chevrolet Express van and a 2021 Honda Odyssey.
