CAMDEN, NJ — Two owners of multiple Crown Fried Chicken restaurants - two in Camden and one in Burlington Township - were hit with a number of charges including tax evasion, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.
According to U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito, Ali Sher Khan, 51, of Haddon Township and Ali Khan, 48, of Clementon, were charged with harboring undocumented employees, committing tax offenses, making false statements to investigators and conspiracy.
Per statements and documents filed in court, Sher Khan and Khan, along with others, employed undocumented workers at the restaurants.
“Those employees were paid in cash, and Sher Khan and Khan failed to deduct payroll taxes from the employees’ pay, as required by law,” according to authorities. “When Sher Khan and Khan caused payroll tax forms to be filed with the IRS, those forms did not accurately reflect the number of employees working the restaurant. Ali Sher Khan and Ali Khan failed to pay over to the IRS the correct amount of payroll taxes.”
Both owners allegedly under-reported over $1 million in payroll taxes for the two Camden restaurants and more than $648,000 in payroll taxes for the Burlington business, “causing a tax loss to the government of $308,742.”
Authorities claim Sher Khan and a business partner permitted undocumented employees to reside in places they owned and did not report the rent paid on tax paperwork.
In addition, from 2013 to 2016 Sher Khan and Khan took “substantial amounts of cash” out of the businesses - going unreported as well.
“Sher Khan did not disclose to the IRS on his personal tax return $831,517 in income from the Crown Fried Chicken restaurants, causing a tax loss of $252,131. Ali Khan did not report or otherwise disclose to the IRS on his personal tax return $394,894 in income from the Crown Fried Chicken restaurants, causing a tax loss of $113,836,” officials said in a press release tonight.
Sher Khan reportedly falsely denied owning and operating the Crown Fried Chicken restaurants when asked by special agents of the IRS and the FBI.
The U.S. Attorney’s office explained that the individual counts carry each a maximum penalty of five years in jail and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
The additional charges of harboring undocumented workers carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The unlawful employment of said workers also carried a max penalty of six months in jail and a $3,000 fine.
Sher Khan (made his initial appearance Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Schneider and was released on $250,000 unsecured bond) was charged with the following:
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one count of conspiracy to evade income taxes
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20 counts of failing to collect, account for, and pay over payroll taxes for corporate entities of two Crown Fried Chicken restaurants
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three counts of income tax evasions for years 2014 through 2016
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one count of harboring illegal aliens
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one count of unlawful employment of aliens
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one count of making false statements to the IRS and FBI
Ali Khan (will make his initial appearance at a future date) was charged with:
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one count of conspiracy to evade income taxes
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10 counts of failing to collect, account for, and pay over payroll taxes for corporate entities of two Crown Fried Chicken restaurants
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three counts of income tax evasion for the years 2014 through 2016
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one count of harboring illegal aliens
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one count of unlawful employment of aliens
Editorial Note: The photo used for this article initially was erroneously that of a Haddon Township Crown Fried Chicken restaurant.
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The Link LonkSeptember 24, 2020 at 07:44AM
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Crown Fried Chicken Owners in Camden Hit With Tax Evasion, Slew of Other Charges - TAPinto.net
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