Washington, DC – Attorney General Linda Singer and Deputy Chief Financial Officer Sherryl Hobbs Newman announced today that Rui Ying Yu, owner and proprietor of New Big Wong Restaurant, located at 610 H Street, NW, pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to pay taxes on March 27, 2007.

According to the evidence, the defendant, Rui Ying Yu, owned and operated New Wong Hing, Inc. under the trade name of New Big Wong Restaurant. While owner and operator of New Wong Hing, Inc., the defendant failed to file or pay the required sales and use taxes, withholding taxes and corporate franchise taxes for the business. As a result, the District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) filed liens against the business for unpaid taxes. In 2004, in an apparent effort to avoid her outstanding tax liabilities, the defendant sold New Wong Hing, Inc. to her sister and mother, changed the name of the corporation to Yuan Profit, Inc. and used the newly formed corporation to continue to operate New Big Wong Restaurant. Following a criminal investigation by the Office of Tax and Revenue, the Office of the Attorney General filed criminal charges.

According to Attorney General Singer, on April 20, 2007, D.C. Superior Court Judge A. Franklin Burgess, Jr. sentenced the defendant to 180 days in jail, suspending the execution of jail time except for two days on each count, totaling six days. Judge Burgess also ordered the defendant to pay restitution to the District of Columbia in the amount of $77,853.86 and placed the defendant on three years of supervised probation.

In addition, Judge Burgess ordered the defendant to pay $5,000 to the District of Columbia Anti-Fraud fund and $200 to the Victims of Violent Crime Fund.

“This sentencing sends a clear message to all tax cheats that the District government will work aggressively to ensure that dishonest taxpayers are held accountable and brought to justice,” said Deputy CFO Newman.

In announcing the conviction and sentencing, Attorney General Singer commended the hard work of the agents of the Office of Tax and Revenue and her own staff in bringing this case to a close. “This is yet another example of the collaborative work that my Office and OTR have undertaken over the past few years to recover a substantial amount of unpaid taxes” said Singer.

In fiscal year 2006, the collaboration between OAG and OTR resulted in the recovery of almost $1,000,000 in unpaid taxes. So far in fiscal year 2007 that number has reached almost $500,000.