A 62-year-old Corona, California man has been sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay more than $700,000 for defrauding the government with revenue suppression software used by Wyoming restaurants.

According to Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas Vassallo, Jin Chen Liang developed, sold, and installed software that enabled several restaurants in Casper, Cheyenne, Green River, Riverton, and Rock Springs to conceal cash sales, facilitating the owners’ under-reporting of the amount of sales tax owed to the State of Wyoming and the amount of income tax owed to the IRS to the tune of approximately $2 million.

Vassallo says the Wyoming Department of Audit suspected the presence of the software on the restaurants’ point of sales systems and collaborated with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation and the IRS during the investigation, which began in 2016.

He says the restaurant owners who bought and used Liang’s software -- Quyen Sam Ha, Soi Sam Ha, and Jenn Sam Ho -- were sentenced to five years of probation for wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the government, and have already paid more than $1.8 million in restitution.

"The crime facilitated by Liang’s software harmed not only the State of Wyoming, but it also created an unfair advantage over law-abiding restaurant owners who lawfully paid state and federal taxes," said Vassallo.

"Due to the diligent and collaborative work of both federal and state investigative agencies, Liang’s criminal enterprise has been dismantled," Vassallo added.