Thread: FORFEITING $2M: OC restaurant operators sentenced...

FORFEITING $2M: OC restaurant operators sentenced in scheme to hire, harbor aliens
A Daily Times Staff Report • September 12, 2008

BALTIMORE — U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis on Friday sentenced Ocean City husband and wife Bo Hao Zhu, 33, and Siu Ping Cheng, 30, to 18 months probation each for evading taxes and unlawfully employing aliens, respectively, in connection with illegal aliens working at two Ocean City restaurants, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, Rod J. Rosenstein, announced.

Davis also ordered Zhu & Partners, LLC to pay a $50,000 fine for alien harboring and inducing aliens to reside in the United States, Rosenstein said.
Defendants also must forfeit their interests in property worth over $2 million, located at 12902 Ocean Gateway Highway in Ocean City, Rosenstein also said.

According to their plea agreements, Bo Hao Zhu owned and operated the Miyako Sushi and Seafood Buffet (Miyako) and Panda China Buffet (Panda Buffet) restaurants in Ocean City. In September 2004, Zhu & Partners, LLC purchased 12902 Ocean Gateway Highway, where Miyako is located, for $2.3 million, Rosenstein said. Panda Buffet is located at 12641 Ocean Gateway Highway.

In February 2005, a bank employee observed Siu Ping Cheng depositing large amounts of cash into Panda Buffet’s accounts, according to Rosenstein.

Over several months, ICE agents also observed several individuals, believed to be illegal immigrants, traveling in Bo Hao Zhu’s vehicle from Panda Buffet, where they worked, to Zhu and Cheng’s condominium, he said.

A review of immigration records in June 2006 revealed that six of 11 occupants of the condominium who were employees of Panda Buffet were in the country illegally, Rosenstein said. In June 2007, agents established that four of eight employees working at both restaurants were in the country illegally, he also said.

Zhu and Cheng had knowingly hired these illegal aliens and paid them in cash for less wages than the law required. From 2005 to 2007, Zhu & Partners, LLC concealed numerous illegal aliens from detection in residences and businesses it owned and rented, he said.

In 2007, Zhu paid wages to employees of his restaurants, resulting in employment taxes owed to the government of $6,790, according to Rosenstein. Zhu failed to pay employment taxes, and provided false information to the IRS concerning wages paid to his employees, the attorney said.
http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 12062/1002

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