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Spa Castle Owners Indicted For Tax Fraud
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 23, 2017
Modified Aug 24, 2018
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Spa Castle
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 23, 2017
Modified Aug 24, 2018
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The owners of Queens spa facility Spa Castle have been indicted by the NY Attorney General's office for allegedly failing to pay over $1.5 million in taxes.
Owner Steve Chon, 57, and his brothers Daniel Chon, 54, and Victor Chon, 50, were named in the indictment, as was Victor Chon's daughter, 29-year-old Stephanie Chon. Steve Chon allegedly failed to remit $621,000 in sales taxes, $207,000 in withholding taxes, $610,000 in corporate taxes, and $131,000 in Metropolitan Transportation Authority Surcharge taxes—the AG's office says he paid employees under the table, and underreported his earnings. The College Point facility raked in $22 million a year from 2010 to 2013, according to prosecutors.
“Companies that fail to pay their fair share of taxes leave ordinary New Yorkers to foot the bill,” AG Schneiderman said in a statement yesterday. "We will not tolerate irresponsible business owners who cheat the system and undermine our tax law."
The four defendants were charged with two counts of grand larceny, eight counts of criminal tax fraud, and one count of criminal tax fraud. All four pleaded "not guilty" in Queens Supreme Court yesterday.
Spa Castle made headlines last year when a six-year-old nearly drowned in a pool, prompting the Department of Health to temporarily shut down the facility. In 2014, an elderly man died in one of Spa Castle's hot tubs—he was discovered when another patron bumped into his body in the tub.
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