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

Tagged in: FCA State, Tax Fraud, Whistleblower Case,