Owners of Orchard Lake Sushi Restaurant Charged With 65 Felonies For Tax Embezzlement Scheme
LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette today announced he filed more than 100 felony charges against Christina and Dong Hyun Chang, of Orchard Lake, and their business Sushi Samurai Inc. for embezzling over $100,000 in sales tax paid by their customers.
Schuette said they also underreported their income by over $100,000.
They were charged with embezzlement over $100,000, conspiracy to embezzle over $100,000, possession of an automated sales suppression device, 59 counts of filing false monthly sales tax returns, five counts of filing false joint income tax returns. The heaviest charges each carry a possible penalty of 20 years in prison.
"If the allegations are true, these individuals intentionally possessed illegal software to steal from the State of Michigan for nothing more it seems than personal greed," said Schuette. "No one is above the law and those who believe they are will continue to face the consequences."
During an investigation, it was determined that the sales in Sushi Samurai's records were allegedly significantly higher than those reported to the state. The "zapper" software essentially deletes sales from the sale records, usually a cash register.
This is allegedly what the Changs did to their sales after the audit. It is alleged that thousands of sales receipts had been deleted.
After further investigation it was determined that in total the Changs allegedly embezzled over $170,000 in sales tax receipts alone. In addition, over $2.5 million in sales were allegedly never reported or accounted for in income tax filings between 2012-2016.
Dong Hyun, 46, and Christina Chang, 51, were arrested on outstanding warrants on Thursday, April 20, 2017. The Changs were arraigned late Thursday afternoon before Magistrate Julie Nelson-Klein in the 48th District Court.
Bond was set at $1 million cash/surety on 65 felony counts for both Changs and $100,000 personal recognizance bond was set for their business Sushi Samurai.
As a condition of bond both Dong Hyun and Christina must surrender their passports and wear a GPS tether monitors. Their next court appearance is a pre-exam conference before Judge Kimberly Small at 9:00 on May 1, 2017 at the 48th District Court in Bloomfield Hills.
