Illegal alien boss failed to pay workers comp

From the NY Times:

The owner of a Queens asbestos-removal company has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for failing to pay $1.6 million in required workers’ compensation premiums by saying that he had just one employee when he often had dozens, prosecutors announced on Tuesday.

Andrew T. Baxter, the interim United States attorney for the Northern District of New York, said the business owner, Chong-mun Chae, a South Korean, would be deported after serving his sentence of 46 months because he was an illegal immigrant.

Prosecutors said that when Mr. Chae applied for workers’ compensation policies, he often falsely claimed that he had just one employee, who worked as a receptionist. As a result, insurance companies charged him far lower rates than if they had known the true number of his employees and the hazardous nature of their work.

Mr. Chae sought to avoid getting caught by repeatedly changing the name of his company, prosecutors said. Its names included Charlie Brown Services, Top Ace Services and K-One Service.

Mr. Chae, 71, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and tax fraud, and was sentenced on Thursday in United States District Court in Binghamton.

State officials said Mr. Chae worked on asbestos-removal projects throughout the state and often used crews of Korean immigrants.