The Safety and Licensing Committee met 04/09/2025. One of the items they took up was the application for a Class A Beer and Class A Liquor License for Jai Sung Mah Pool Club on W. Wisconsin Avenue.
The committee ended up voting unanimously to deny the application “because of the applicant’s history as a non-law-abiding business owner with insufficient regard for the peace, quiet, health, safety and welfare of the community.”
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
Alderperson William Siebers (District 1) is the alderperson of the district in which this business is located. He was also the alderperson several years ago when the neighborhood was experiencing serious noise issues with the establishment that abuts a residential neighborhood. Alderperson Siebers reached out to the owner, Nusara Yang, and tried to resolve the situation but a resolution could not be reached and the owner ended up surrendering her license when she was facing revocation proceedings.
The business was eventually turned into a restaurant and grocery. During the planning of that, Alderperson Siebers again reached out to the business and tried to make sure that they would not be operating as a bar.
At this point he felt that if Ms. Yang was serious about wanting an alcohol license she should have been proactively reaching out to him, given that they had a previously established relationship and there had been a history of issues at the business. The owner, however, had not and, given the history, Alderperson Siebers was not going to vote in favor of the license.
The past issues with the business rose above simple noise disturbances. Assistant City Attorney Zak Buruin recounted his understanding of the legal issues associated with the business and the owner. “It wasn’t a pool hall/restaurant/bar primarily as it purported to be. Documents were uncovered through the searches that were consistent with an illicit gambling operation, suggesting that the gambling operation dated back as far as 2008. This would have been discovered in 2014. So, it would include the entire time that business was open going back to 2012. Financial documents indicated a Gordian Knot of bank accounts involving the applicant, the business, her spouse, her children, and some of those accounts appear to have been used potentially for laundering illegal gambling money. And I want to make it explicitly clear there were no money laundering charges in Wisconsin, no convictions associated with that, but that’s what the officers believe the evidence suggested based on what they uncovered.”
Criminal gambling charges were brought against Ms. Yang in Minnesota. In Wisconsin, although there were no convictions for gambling, some charges were dismissed and read into the record. Additionally, there were criminal convictions in Wisconsin for benefit fraud related to using food stamps to purchase food for the business.
Per Attorney Buruin, none of the convictions would require the committee or Council to deny the application, but the history was substantially related to the license that was being applied for and could be taken into consideration. As he pointed out, “It was this exact premises utilized by this exact owner, at least partially as a front to cover for significant criminal enterprise taking place in Appleton and in Saint Paul, Minnesota.”
The committee ended up voting 4-0 to recommend the license application be denied.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1281679&GUID=6B9F54CF-8627-4E9A-B66A-B297FC339A99
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