http://www.sj-r.com/sections/news/stories/96821.asp

Buffet City co-owner pleads poverty
Judge tells Hui Ye to sell his Porsche

By CHRIS DETTRO
STAFF WRITER

Published Wednesday, September 27, 2006

A federal judge Tuesday refused to appoint an attorney for a man charged with harboring illegal aliens, telling the man to sell his 2005 Porsche to get money to hire his own counsel.

Xiang Hui Ye denied that he is a co-owner of the now-shuttered Buffet City restaurant on Wabash Avenue, as the government charges.

Hui Ye said his take-home pay as a salaried employee was $2,400 per month. But he also told U.S. Magistrate Judge Byron Cudmore that he owns a Porsche SUV, identified as a 2005 model in an affidavit filed Sept. 19 by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in support of the complaint against Hui Ye.

"Sell your car, and go hire a lawyer, understood?" Cudmore told Hui Ye, 28, of the 3300 block of Gaines Mill Road.

Hui Ye, speaking through an interpreter in Mandarin Chinese, said he and his wife had contacted several attorneys for representation, "and we could not afford it."

If he sold the Porsche, which isn't paid for, Hui Ye said, he would net $15,000 to $20,000. He said attorneys he has contacted want more than $20,000 to represent him.

"You need to contact other attorneys," Cudmore replied. "You have equity in that vehicle sufficient to hire a lawyer in this town."

Cudmore continued the detention and preliminary hearings until Friday.

According to the affidavit by ICE special agent Brian Withers, authorities believe Hui Ye is co-owner of the restaurant at 1774 Wabash Ave. and that he makes more than $2,400 a month.

The affidavit says a review of subpoenaed bank records showed that, from Jan. 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, deposits of $1.33 million were made in an account in the name of Buffet City. Only $4,256 of the amount deposited was in cash.

An ICE financial analyst in Chicago told Withers "there is reasonable expectation that cash deposits for Buffet City should have been substantially higher," according to the affidavit.

The review of bank records indicated Hui Ye made cash deposits of $77,340 into another account during that same period, the affidavit says.

Hui Ye, a Chinese citizen who has been granted asylum in the United States, reported income of about $1,600 per month to the Illinois Department of Employment Security during the last year for which figures were available, the affidavit says.

Cudmore also continued the cases of five Buffet City workers being held as material witnesses and by ICE for deportation proceedings, until Friday.

Appearing in court Tuesday were two Chinese men, two Chinese women and a Mexican man. All are considered illegal immigrants by the government. Federal public defender Doug Beevers was appointed to represent Xiang Jin Ye, Yang Feng Ye, Jen Ching Le, Pandeng Chen and Mateo Vasquez-Flores.

The five said they had worked at Buffet City for wages ranging from $10 an hour to tips only. All said their housing was provided by the restaurant and that they were allowed to eat there at no charge.

Beevers asked depositions be taken from all five as soon as possible. Cudmore told them that giving depositions could end their involvement in the criminal case against Hui Ye and an unnamed co-defendant who has yet to be arrested.

The judge also continued their cases until Friday.

The government says that from Jan. 15, 2005, to Sept. 11, Hui Ye hired illegal aliens to work at the restaurant and provided housing for the workers in apartments on Seven Pines Road and Gaines Mill Road near the restaurant.

A review of Buffet City payroll information by a U.S. Department of Labor investigator determined the restaurant has underpaid workers $266,366 over a two-year period, according to the affidavit.

Sixteen employees of the restaurant were taken into custody Sept. 20 and face deportation to China and Mexico.

In addition to arresting Hui Ye the same day, authorities seized bank accounts in the name of Buffet City, Hui Ye and others and the contents of a safe deposit box in the name of Hui Ye and another person.


Chris Dettro can be reached at 788-1510 or chris.dettro@sj-r.com.