TONY HU, CHICAGO CHINESE RESTAURANT LEGEND, CHARGED WITH MONEY LAUNDERING

Tony Hu (aka: Hu Xiaojun)

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160513/chinatown/tony-hu-chicago-chinese-restaurant-owner-charged-with-money-laundering

CHICAGO — World renowned Chicago Chinese restaurant owner Tony Hu, known as the “Mayor of Chinatown,” has been charged with intentionally failing to pay state taxes.

The owner of Lao Sze Chuan was charged with a count of wire fraud and a count of money laundering, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

He “intentionally withheld state taxes by underreporting the receipts paid in cash,” the federal prosecutor’s office alleged.

According to the complaint, Hu hid cash sales from the Illinois Department of Revenue. Hu Xiaojun, Tony Hu’s legal name, allegedly started doing so no later than January 2010 to at least September 2014, according to the complaint.

“Hu modified the restaurants’ sales records and caused the restaurants’ sales records to be modified in order to conceal cash transactions that had occurred at the restaurants,” according to the complaint. Hu and others got rid of daily sales summaries and “most of the transaction receipts for the restaurants’ cash sales.”

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, the law firm that represents Hu, said attorneys plan to release a statement on the case next week and would not comment Friday.

In 2014, the FBI raided a number of Hu’s Chicago restaurants, including his flagship Lao Sze Chuan at 2172 S. Archer Ave., Lao Shanghai, 2163 S. China Pl., and Lao You Ju, 2002 S. Wentworth Ave.

Sealed search warrants show that Hu’s restaurants allegedly underreported income by hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to the Sun-Times, the documents stated that Lao Sze Chuan in Chinatown deposited an average of nearly $231,000 per month in bank accounts but only reported $215,000 in income. Lao You Ju allegedly earned $94,000 every month but reported only $82,500 in income.

Lao Sze Chuan in suburban Downer’s Grove reported $1.07 million in receipts in 2009, but listed only $657,000 on its tax return that year, the warrants state, according to the Sun-Times.

Before the raids, Hu was omnipresent in Chinatown social and civic circles and appeared alongside Mayor Rahm Emanuel and city dignitaries at various neighborhood ribbon cuttings.

When Hu opened an opulent offshoot of Lao Sze Chuan in Las Vegas, local news website there quoted Hu saying Emanuel joked with him, “I’m the mayor of Chicago, but you’re the mayor of Chinatown.”

The website for his restaurant group, Tony Gourmet Group, lists 13 restaurants. But news reports have suggested that he sold one or more of those restaurants.

Hu could not be reached for comment and employees at his flagship restaurant declined to comment Friday afternoon.

Sharyne Tu, who heads up the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce — the business group where Hu serves as a director — said the charges do not change the way people feel about Hu’s cuisine.

“I think people just go to the restaurants for the food — because it’s good food,” Tu said. “I don’t think it will impact people going to the restaurants.”

This entry was posted by admin on May 14, 2016 at 12:12 am, and is filed under EVIDENCE. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

SELECTED APRIL 17 + 18, 2016 

TONY HU, CHICAGO CHINESE RESTAURANT LEGEND, CHARGED WITH MONEY LAUNDERING

Tony Hu (aka: Hu Xiaojun)

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160513/chinatown/tony-hu-chicago-chinese-restaurant-owner-charged-with-money-laundering

CHICAGO — World renowned Chicago Chinese restaurant owner Tony Hu, known as the “Mayor of Chinatown,” has been charged with intentionally failing to pay state taxes.

The owner of Lao Sze Chuan was charged with a count of wire fraud and a count of money laundering, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

He “intentionally withheld state taxes by underreporting the receipts paid in cash,” the federal prosecutor’s office alleged.

According to the complaint, Hu hid cash sales from the Illinois Department of Revenue. Hu Xiaojun, Tony Hu’s legal name, allegedly started doing so no later than January 2010 to at least September 2014, according to the complaint.

“Hu modified the restaurants’ sales records and caused the restaurants’ sales records to be modified in order to conceal cash transactions that had occurred at the restaurants,” according to the complaint. Hu and others got rid of daily sales summaries and “most of the transaction receipts for the restaurants’ cash sales.”

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, the law firm that represents Hu, said attorneys plan to release a statement on the case next week and would not comment Friday.

In 2014, the FBI raided a number of Hu’s Chicago restaurants, including his flagship Lao Sze Chuan at 2172 S. Archer Ave., Lao Shanghai, 2163 S. China Pl., and Lao You Ju, 2002 S. Wentworth Ave.

Sealed search warrants show that Hu’s restaurants allegedly underreported income by hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to the Sun-Times, the documents stated that Lao Sze Chuan in Chinatown deposited an average of nearly $231,000 per month in bank accounts but only reported $215,000 in income. Lao You Ju allegedly earned $94,000 every month but reported only $82,500 in income.

Lao Sze Chuan in suburban Downer’s Grove reported $1.07 million in receipts in 2009, but listed only $657,000 on its tax return that year, the warrants state, according to the Sun-Times.

Before the raids, Hu was omnipresent in Chinatown social and civic circles and appeared alongside Mayor Rahm Emanuel and city dignitaries at various neighborhood ribbon cuttings.

When Hu opened an opulent offshoot of Lao Sze Chuan in Las Vegas, local news website there quoted Hu saying Emanuel joked with him, “I’m the mayor of Chicago, but you’re the mayor of Chinatown.”

The website for his restaurant group, Tony Gourmet Group, lists 13 restaurants. But news reports have suggested that he sold one or more of those restaurants.

Hu could not be reached for comment and employees at his flagship restaurant declined to comment Friday afternoon.

Sharyne Tu, who heads up the Chinatown Chamber of Commerce — the business group where Hu serves as a director — said the charges do not change the way people feel about Hu’s cuisine.

“I think people just go to the restaurants for the food — because it’s good food,” Tu said. “I don’t think it will impact people going to the restaurants.”

This entry was posted by admin on May 14, 2016

Woman Involved in U.N. Corruption Case Is Given 20 Months in Prison

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSJULY 29, 2016

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A woman who bribed a top United Nations official to support business ventures was sentenced to 20 months in prison by a judge who said bribery schemes do “substantial damage” to the international organization's image.

Sheri Yan was sentenced on Friday by Judge Vernon Broderick of the United States District Court in Manhattan after Ms. Yan pleaded guilty to a bribery charge in January.

“There is substantial damage done to the U.N., and the image of the U.N. itself,” Judge Broderick said. “Whenever members of institutions accept or are given bribes, it diminishes that institution."

Ms. Yan admitted to having paid more than $800,000 in bribes to John W. Ashe, the former president of the General Assembly, who died several weeks ago in an accident at home in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. He was awaiting trial after pleading not guilty to a tax charge in the case.

“I will be forever punishing myself,” Ms. Yan, 60, said. In tears, she added, “I am very, very, very sorry.”

Judge Broderick rejected a request to keep Ms. Yan out of prison. Her lawyer, Christine Chung, cited Ms. Yan’s difficult childhood and “the shame and dishonor and the ripping down of her whole life” that resulted after her arrest. Prosecutors sought a nearly six-year prison term.

Ms. Chung described Mr. Ashe as a predator, seeking money at every turn.

"He had his hand out constantly,” she said.

Ms. Chung said Ms. Yan, who was born in the Anhui Province in a rural part of China, was separated from her brother and their parents for six years in 1966 when her father and mother were forced into labor during the Cultural Revolution.

She came to the United States in 1987 with $400 sewn into her clothes, and worked as a nanny and home attendant in Washington D.C., where she met her husband, Ms. Chung said. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 2001.

The lawyer added that Ms. Yan was working as a consultant when she met Mr. Ashe in early 2012 in Hong Kong, where he offered to make her an adviser when he became president of the General Assembly. By spring 2012, Ms. Yan was passing bribes to Mr. Ashe.

Prosecutors said funds for the bribes came largely from Ng Lap Seng, a real estate developer from Macau. Ms. Yan’s plea agreement said she gave bribes to Mr. Ashe to persuade officials in Antigua to join business contracts with foreign companies. At the time, Mr. Ashe was an ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda.

Mr. Ng, a billionaire, has pleaded not guilty to charges and is awaiting a January trial.

Chinese Media Is Now Warning Canada’s Housing Crash Will Be Worse Than The US

JULY 18, 2016 87 

Shots fired! While our media has been pointing out how Chinese buyers are driving up real estate prices, the Chinese media has been dissecting our economy, government, and warning Chinese buyers of the dangers of owning Canadian real estate.

We’re always curious to know how other countries interpret our statistics, political climate and what outside media is reporting about Canada’s economy. Since China has been a hot button subject in Canadian news recently, we thought it was high time we took a look at how Canada is portrayed in China’s State regulated media. While the Chinese media does acknowledge that Chinese buyers are a contributing factor to our prices – and admit they have been capitalizing on it – they also point out some interesting observations that our media has failed to cover. Here are the most interesting points we found from three major Chinese publications.

Worse Than The 2008 US Crash

Hexun, China’s largest finance portal, recently published an article pointing to Canada’s debt fueled economy. They noted that Canadians have the largest debt-to-income ratio of any G7 country, with the average spending 165% of their salary. To contrast, at the height of the US housing crisis in 2008, Americans carried what was then considered an outlandish 147% debt-to-income ratio – 17 points lower than where we currently sit. Canada’s total household debt reached $1.892 trillion dollars, with $1.234 trillion dollars of that as mortgage debt – roughly 65% more than we make per year. To put that 1.82 trillion dollars into perspective, we could have run the US government for 8 months with that amount of money.

 “This is a very big bubble. And it’s going to end in tears.”
–Paul Ashworth

CN Gold, another one of China’s large financial sites, ran an article quoting Toronto-based economist Paul Ashworth who told them “This is a very big bubble. And it’s going to end in tears.” They then went on to say that once this bubble bursts, real estate will likely be a major “blow to the Canadian economy”.

Real Estate As An Economy Booster

Sina.com’s real estate partner, and NYSE listed Leju was quick to point out that while the average home price in Vancouver is up more than 30%, the province is in a state of “stagflation.” Stagflation is a fancy word that describes when the cost of living increases but there is stagnant demand in the economy. They go on to say BC has one of the lowest median incomes in the country, and the BC government is hoping rising home prices will “render some good”.Real estate and related services were one of the few high paying growth sectors contributing to our economy over the past year. A significant portion of our growth is in low income sectors like retail, and hospitality service.

While they didn’t put statistics to those statements, we recently published an article that showed Vancouver’s home prices have risen 172% in the last 15 years, while income has only moved up 10%. The struggle in VanCity is real.

BC Government Saved This For The Election

Most interesting, Chinese media outlets are questioning the timing of all of this. Afterall, Vancouver’s real estate has been growing at an unsustainable rate for years (more like decades), while incomes have stagnated. An author from Leju wrote that the Asian investment conversation is being brought on as platforms for the Vancouver municipal and BC provincial elections.

Leju also explained that other cities like Toronto, that have substantially more international buyers, are not having discussions about “vacancy taxes” and “restrictions”. They further allege that the government in Vancouver and BC are looking to distract constituents with “other factors” to explain why income in the province is one of the lowest in Canada.

“this crisis threatens the stability of [the Canadian] financial system.”

Hexun was a little more blunt, stating the Government of Canada “must introduce policies to cool the property market, or face collapse”. Further adding that “this crisis threatens the stability of [the Canadian] financial system.”

While you should approach all media with a grain of salt, they bring interesting points to the table that should be part of the discussion. In Vancouver’s market where mayor Gregor Robertson made almost four times his annual salary selling a home he lived in for only 2 years, and BC Finance Minister Mike de Jong has a stake in 7 homes (only 5 mortgages though), are Chinese speculators the problem or are allspeculators contributing to the problem? Also, as Canadians we tend to not discuss things like declining income, which is unfortunate because it’s a big part of our housing story.

Let’s Have An Honest Discussion About Real Estate

At Better Dwelling we’re exploring the issues around Canadian housing from all sides. Like this post? Like us on Facebook to get notified when the next one goes live.

 

Tiffany Greene

Torontonian, journalist, and real estate lover.

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AMERICAN WAR PLANS AGAINST CHINA PRESENTED IN NEW REPORT FOR F-35’s

This is for real Canada! Where are we on this issue; would we defend the Chinese? China controls Canada presently [you don't believe me ...just read some of the recent posts of CWC/this year]...and this is infuriating the Americans! This is not trivial talk...

Seriously Slowing Down of the Chinese Economy-How The World is Effected

The Weakening of the Chinese Economy

Supersize ships being built to feed our consumer appetites

Supersize ships being built to feed our consumer appetites

Posted NOV 22, 2010

Walmart commissions fleet of giant ships to speed consumer goods from China.

Walmart is betting heavily that consumer demand for goods made in China will remain strong for many years to come.

The Emma Maersk, shown in these photos, was launched as the third of a planned fleet of five new “supersize” cargo ships, designed to transport goods across the Pacific in just 5 days. Two more ships are commissioned to be completed in 2012.

These ships were commissioned by Walmart to move goods from China faster and more economically than presently possible with standard merchant vessels. The new “super-size” ships can each carry an incredible 15,000 containers! The full crew is just 13 people on a ship longer than modern aircraft carriers which have crews of 3,000.

These new ships are designed for the sole purpose of moving goods from China to ports in the western US. With a 207′ beam, the ships are too wide to fit through the Panama or Suez Canals.

With a cruising speed of 31 knots, goods arrive 4 days before the typical container ship (18-20 knots) on a China -to-California run. 91% of Walmart products are made in China.

The Emma Maersk was built in five sections in five different shipyards. The completed sections were barged to one location and then welded together. The command bridge is higher than a 10-story building and has 11 cargo crane rigs that can operate simultaneously unloading the entire ship in less than two hours.

Additional info:
Country of origin – Denmark
Length – 1,302 ft
Width – 207 ft
Net cargo – 123,200 tons
Engine – 14 cylinders in-line diesel engine (110,000 BHP)
Cargo capacity – 15,000 TEU (1 TEU = 20 cubic feet)
Crew – 13 people
Construction cost – US $145,000,000+
Silicone painting applied to the ship bottom reduces water resistance and saves 317,000 gallons of diesel per year.

A documentary in March, 2010 on the History Channel noted that all of these containers are shipped back to China, empty. Yep, that’s right. We send nothing back on these ships.

This is our reality now, but what if we consumed fewer Chinese products, and if we couldn’t find a product made in North America to buy, we just didn’t buy it – is this possible? Imagine how our environment and economy could change. What are your views on this, readers?”