Middletown man who co-owns Mass. restaurants sentenced for fraud

Nov. 03--Mass. eateries co-owner sentenced for fraud

BOSTON -- A Middletown man who co-owns a string of chicken takeout restaurants in the Boston area was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in federal prison for tax and insurance fraud, as well as immigration and visa fraud.

Hazrat Khalid Khan, 58, a native of Pakistan, will face deportation proceedings after he serves his prison sentence. He must also repay $2,343,155 to the IRS and $27,863 to two insurance companies.

Khan pleaded guilty in April 2017 to conspiring to defraud the IRS, committing mail fraud, making false statements on a naturalization application and committing visa fraud. The plea and sentence cover two cases in the District of Massachusetts and one in the Southern District of New York.

As part-owner of 11 chicken restaurants in the Boston area, prosecutors say, Khan and his co-conspirators avoided paying payroll and income taxes owed by the stores. They paid employees in cash and provided false information on payroll to their tax preparers, leading the preparers to file false tax returns.

Khan also underreported the payroll to workers' compensation insurance carriers, defrauding them.

When filling out naturalization papers, prosecutors say, Khan denied having a previous criminal conviction, when he had been convicted in federal court of alien smuggling.

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