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Tony Hu FBI Raids in Chinatown Motivated By Alleged Tax Fraud: Report

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FBI agents dined at restaurants for recon about a year before the raids, according to previously sealed documents.

Lao Hunan
Lao Hunan
Marc Much
Ashok Selvam is the editor of Eater Chicago and a native Chicagoan armed with more than two decades of award-winning journalism. Now covering the world of restaurants and food, his nut graphs are super nutty.

Remember the mystery surrounding last year's FBI raid of nine of Tony Hu's Chinatown restaurants? The Sun-Times sifted through previously sealed court documents and found the feds wanted evidence of tax fraud, though no criminal charges have been filed.

Hu, a.k.a. "The Mayor of Chinatown," has since sold off some of his Chinatown restaurants, with plans to sell more from the Tony Gourmet Group. He has said he wants to focus on his Lao Sze Chuan chain away from Chinatown. They opened another location in December in downtown Chicago.

But the Sun-Times story details discrepancies between what was reported to the IRS and records kept by Hu's employees. For example, the 2009 tax return for Lao Sze Chuan's suburban Downers Grove location read the restaurant brought in $656,866, while a manager's spreadsheet read $1.066 million, according to the report.

FBI agents dined at Hu's restaurants about year before the raid for recon, hoping to gain more familiarity with Hu's accounting and computer systems, according to the Sun-Times. Hu's in China, and wasn't available for comment, the Sun-Times added.

Lao Hunan

2230 S Wentworth Avenue, Chicago, IL 312 842 7888

Lao Beijing

2138 S Archer Avenue, Chicago, IL 60616 312 881 0168

Lao Sze Chuan Restaurant - Downtown/Michigan Ave

520 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611 (312) 818-8099 Visit Website

Lao Sze Chuan

510 Mason Road, , TX 77450 (281) 665-3668 Visit Website

Lao You Ju

2002 S Wentworth Avenue, Chicago, IL 60616 312 225 7818

Lao Shanghai

2163 S China Pl, Chicago, IL 60616 (312) 808-0830 Visit Website