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Dec 3, 2008 7:07 pm US/Eastern
Saigon Restaurants Owners In Hot Water
Couple Faces Myriad Of Charges Stemming From Alleged Financial Misdeed, Abuse Of Delivery Workers
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
There was more trouble Wednesday for the owners of the Saigon restaurants.
The couple was previously accused of cheating delivery workers. On Wednesday afternoon they were back in court to plead not guilty to more charges.
The restaurant owners, Simon and Michelle Nget, were charged with falsifying business records, evidence tampering, failing to pay wages and taking kickbacks and fines.
"No kickbacks, never. Cook books? Never did they cook the books, never cooked the books," defense attorney Michael Weisberg said.
The Saigon Grill on Amsterdam Avenue and in Greenwich Village have been in a bitter dispute with delivery workers. In October, a judge ordered the couple of pay $4.6 million to workers who charged they worked 60 to 70 hours a week, and made less than the minimum wage.
"He said never did get overtime and our wages were more than a dollar an hour," delivery worker Yu Guan Ke said through a translator.
The attorney for the owners said the employees are lying, that none of them ever worked more than 40 hours a week.
The owners were released on bail.
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