
Tony Hu
CHICAGO (AP) — The chef-owner of several Chicago-area Chinese restaurants has pleaded guilty to federal charges alleging he underpaid state taxes by not reporting all cash receipts.
Tony Hu pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and money laundering on May 16.
Sentencing guidelines call for Hu to serve as much as four years in prison. A plea bargain also calls for Hu to pay restitution of more than $1 million to the state.
The 48-year-old Hu, whose real name is Hu Xiaojun, runs the Tony Gourmet Group. Besides restaurants in Chicago, Evanston and Downers Grove, the group operates one restaurant in Connecticut and one in Las Vegas.
Federal agents executed search warrants at several of Hu’s restaurants in Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood in October 2014. They also searched his Michigan Avenue condominium.