Mercer County, New Jersey, Man Sentenced To 21 Months In Prison For Tax Evasion

NEWARK, N.J. – A Princeton Junction, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 21 months in prison for failing to report over $1.5 million in income he fraudulently diverted to overseas shell companies, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.

Albert Chang, 71, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge William H. Walls to an information charging him with one count of conspiring to evade income taxes and one substantive count of tax evasion. Judge Walls imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Chang and Michael Q. Fu, 54, of Cranbury Township, New Jersey, co-owned and operated United Products and Instruments Inc. (UNICO) located in Dayton, New Jersey. UNICO was established by Chang and Fu in 1991 and primarily engaged in the sale and export of microscopes and centrifuges for medical purposes.

As part of the conspiracy, Chang and Fu created two shell companies headquartered in China – Action Towers and Bench Top Laboratories. Chang and Fu then diverted business income to themselves by funneling money to the shell companies’ bank accounts and deducting the diverted funds from UNICO’s corporate tax return as the cost of goods sold or commission.

In addition, Chang and Fu had Shanghai Electric, a Hong Kong-based utility company, overbill UNICO by approximately five percent on legitimate invoices. Once the invoices were paid by UNICO, they directed Shanghai Electric to wire transfer the overbilled amount to their accounts in China, which they used for their personal benefit. Chang and Fu failed to report any of that income on their federal income tax returns.

In total, Change failed to report $1,559,200, resulting in a tax loss of $237,064. Fu failed to report $1,570,000, resulting in a tax loss of $321,141.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Walls sentenced Chang to three years of supervised release. Restitution will be determined at a later date.

Fu previously pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy and was sentenced to 37 months in prison on Jan. 24, 2017.

U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen; special agents of Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Brian Michael; and officers of the Springfield Police Department, under the direction of Chief John Cook, with the investigation.

The government is represented by Senior Litigation Counsel Margaret Ann Mahoney of U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.

Defense counsel: Robert Weir Esq., Red Bank, New Jersey