West St. Paul Man Fined $43K For Filing False Tax Returns

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A West St. Paul man who filed three false income tax returns while managing his parents' Chinese take-out restaurant was sentenced to 10 months of electronic monitoring and home confinement and ordered to pay the IRS $42,504.

Sunny Andriy Chen, 33, pleaded guilty in October 2014 to filing false returns between 2010 and 2012 -- failing to report $211,833 in income.

Between 2010 and 2012, he reported a total of income of about $24,000 per year.

Chen took part of the restaurants cash receipts to buy money orders, which he sued to make payments toward tax-free life insurance policies registered in his and his parents' names. He also used $20,000 in cash toward a down payment on a new automobile.

"IRS Criminal Investigation is diligent when it comes to enforcing the laws directed at those who attempt to defraud our nation's tax system," said Shea Jones, Special Agent in Charge of the St. Paul Field Office in a statement. "Today's sentencing shows how seriously the courts take federal tax crimes."