By Gina Martinez
The owners of Spa Castle, who were indicted on tax fraud charges, made sizable donations to Queens Democrats over the years, according to government campaign filings.
State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) responded to a New York Post report that Spa Castle owners gave thousands in donations to multiple Queens politicians. The senator has been vocal for years about shutting the controversial spa down after multiple health violations and incidents at the College Point site. Avella contended the reason the spa was able to remain open was because of the donations to area politicians, who he said put money before their constituents.
“After years of expressing my concerns about Spa Castle, I was not surprised to find out that the owners were being indicted for tax fraud,” he said. “What was a surprise, however, was that the staggering amount of critical health violations, deplorable work conditions for employees, or a man dying in one of their hot tubs was not enough to shut this place down. Thanks to this Post article, now I understand why they haven’t been shut down. It’s a disgrace that campaign contributions matter more than constituent complaints these days.”
The New York Post reported the Chon family gave up to $206,400 in donations to borough Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley (D- Flushing), U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing), and Borough President Melinda Katz.
According to campaign filings, Steve Chon made campaign donations to Queens Democrats going back to 2010.
Avella said he has had serious concerns about the spa since his first visit as a councilman in 2008 when he noticed that “fire exits were mislabeled, blocked with stored equipment, and in one case, padlocked.”
Avella has called on the city Board of Standards and Appeals to revoke the spa’s variance for years. In 2014 the spa was temporarily shut down after a man was found dead in a hot tub.
Most recently police were searching for a woman who ran over an employee with her car after leaving without paying for services in early March, police have still not found the suspect.
“They seem to constantly flout the law,” he said. “With the fact that the media has discovered numerous health violations and safety violations, this is the last straw that has broken the camel’s back.”
The spa’s owners were indicted March 22 for their alleged theft or failure to remit over $1.5 million in sales and other taxes owed by Spa Castle, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said.
According to the charges, 57-year-old Steve Chon; his brothers Daniel Chon, 54, Victor Chon, 50; and his daughter, 29-year-old Stephanie Chon, failed to report millions of dollars in revenue collected by the spa from 2010 to 2013. The fraud left New York state short of $621,000 in sales taxes, $207,000 in withholding taxes, $610,000 in corporate taxes and $131,000 in Metropolitan Transportation Authority Surcharge taxes, Schneiderman said.
Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmart
