CHICAGO — The owner of several Chinese restaurants in the Chicago area intentionally withheld state taxes by underreporting the receipts paid in cash, according to federal criminal charges filed today.

HU XIAOJUN, also known as “Tony Hu,” 48, of Chicago, is charged in a criminal information with one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. An arraignment in U.S. District Court in Chicago has not yet been scheduled.

Hu owns and operates several restaurants in Chicago and the suburbs, including the eateries Lao Sze Chuan and Lao You Ju. The charges allege that from January 2010 to September 2014, Hu intentionally withheld sales taxes from the Illinois Department of Revenue for receipts that customers paid in cash. Although Hu collected or caused to be collected all of the daily receipts, he and others discarded most of the bills from the cash sales, according to the information.

A new total without most of the cash purchases was then calculated, and Hu fraudulently reported it to the State, according to the information. Hu deposited the unreported cash into his personal bank account – and caused others to do the same – and used the money to pay personal expenses, the information states.

The charges were announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Michael J. Anderson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and James D. Robnett, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.

The two counts in the information are punishable by 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.

The public is reminded that an information is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys William Ridgway and Joel Hammerman.

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