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

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.