Three stakeholders of a Mobile restaurant have been sentenced to probation and ordered to forfeit more than $1.5 million in assets after federal prosecutors said they illegally employed workers and housed them at a nearby residence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Alabama.
Zheng Kong Zheng, 57, of Mobile, received two years of probation with the first six months on home confinement with electronic monitoring. He was ordered to forfeit more than $500,000 along with five residential properties. De Yun Wang, 54, and Kong Mei Zheng, 55, both Chinese nationals, each drew one year of probation; Wang must forfeit over $500,000 and five properties, while Kong Mei Zheng was ordered to give up more than $200,000 and one residence.
Cash Wages, Free Housing
Court documents state that Zheng Kong Zheng and his sister Kong Mei Zheng ran the China Super Buffet until 2019. Beginning at least as early as 2014, prosecutors said, the restaurant unlawfully employed workers who were not authorized to be in the country and housed them free of charge at a harboring residence near the restaurant owned by Zheng Kong Zheng and Wang. Utilities and taxes on the home were paid from restaurant accounts, and the workers were shuttled between the house and the restaurant in a passenger van.
Prosecutors said the arrangement was concealed by paying the workers in cash, with their earnings never reported to the Alabama Department of Labor even as wages for lawful employees were.
Pandemic Loans Based on False Information
In September 2019, Kong Mei Zheng transferred her interest in the business to her brother, making him sole owner, and the unlawful hiring continued, authorities said. While he owned it, the restaurant applied for Small Business Administration pandemic relief programs and received $445,307 in loans based on false information in its applications, according to the Department of Justice.
Two co-defendants were previously sentenced: Zheng Guo Zheng, 67, drew five years of probation in November 2022, a $40,000 fine tied to the van used to transport workers, forfeiture of over $15,000, and an order to repay the full $445,307 to the SBA. Yan Jia Zhuo, 58, was sentenced in July 2022 to time served for unlawfully employing aliens. Under their plea agreements, all of the defendants agreed to forfeit more than $1.5 million in cash and property described as illegal proceeds from the harboring convictions and labor practices.