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Chicago • The chef-owner of several Chicago-area Chinese restaurants has pleaded guilty to allegations that he underpaid state taxes by not reporting all cash receipts.
Tony Hu pleaded guilty Monday to one count each of wire fraud and money laundering. Sentencing guidelines call for Hu to serve up to four years in prison. A plea bargain also calls for Hu to pay more than $1 million restitution to the state.
The 48-year-old Hu, whose real name is Hu Xiaojun, runs the Tony Gourmet Group. Besides restaurants in the Chicago area, the group operates one restaurant in Connecticut and one in Las Vegas.
Hu graduated from The Culinary Institute of Sichuan, the first culinary institute in China, in 1989. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1993.