A U.S. federal jury has convicted Antonietta Nguyen, the former chief financial officer and minority shareholder of San Francisco, California, U.S.A.-based ABS Seafood, of embezzling more than USD 9 million (EUR 7.8 million) from the seafood wholesale firm.
Originally indicted in 2023, Nguyen was recently convicted in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on multiple counts of wire fraud, aiding and abetting wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to transport monetary instruments for the purpose of laundering, and tax evasion in connection with the scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the court said.
Nguyen was released on bond, and her sentencing hearing is scheduled for 10 October. She faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a USD 250,000 (EUR 215,700) fine for each count of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, 20 years in prison and a USD 500,000 (EUR 431,000) fine for the count of conspiracy to transport monetary instruments for the purpose of laundering, and five years in prison and a USD 100,000 (EUR 86,278) fine for each count of willful tax evasion.
The jury’s verdict followed a two-week trial that revealed Nguyen devised an “inflated invoice scheme” involving family members who operated Pescaderia Pacifica International, Inc., a Filipino seafood exporter that was one of ABS’s top vendors and main source for tuna imported into the U.S., the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
The scheme resulted in ABS paying over double the true value of the imported seafood after Nguyen created false invoices that she hid from others at the company.
Her family members then split the proceeds, with some of the money being wired back to bank accounts in the U.S. in the names of Nguyen’s husband and daughters.
Additionally, Nguyen misappropriated around USD 2.7 million (EUR 2.3 million) in company funds, in part by using a company credit card to pay for personal travel, purses, and other luxury goods from such brands as Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Goyard, Chanel, and Neiman Marcus; property taxes for one of her residences; and college tuition fees for a relative from 2014 through 2020.
Nguyen also evaded personal income taxes that she and her spouse owed for 2018 and 2019 by underreporting the amount of joint taxable income they accrued for those two years.
“The defendant devised multiple ways to defraud her business partners of several millions of dollars and got away with it for over six years. She exploited her position of trust in order to fund a lavish lifestyle for herself and her family members,” U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian said.
Nguyen’s “brazen multi-million-dollar embezzlement scheme is a betrayal and breach of trust against her employer and runs afoul of well-established financial law,” IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Oakland Field Office Special Agent in Charge Linda Nguyen added.
