December 7, 2020
A chain of supermarkets in the New York area has been ordered to pay
$4.7 million to settle claims under the state False Claims Act that alleged the chain operated a series of tax avoidance schemes from 2012 to 2018. The case against
Food World entities Pine Tree Meat & Produce Inc., Food Jungle, Inc., Sonamoo, Inc., and CNI Meat & Produce, and owner
Hi Jong Lee was sparked by a
qui tam whistleblower and involved three schemes: the use of separate cash registers so cash purchases would not be recorded for tax purposes, the use of fake merchandise returns to underreport actual sales, and the payment of a majority of its employees in cash and off the books.
AG NY