Husband and Wife Get Jail Time for Falsely Declaring Imported Apparel as Samples
A husband and wife were recently sentenced to 14 months in prison and $70,000 in restitution for misdeclaring their imported Chinese apparel to be samples in order to avoid paying duties. Hoang Minh “Tommy” Nguyen and Dung Hanh “Yuna” Dao in February pleaded guilty in Eastern California U.S. District Court to conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering. District Judge Lawrence O’Neill on May 8 sentenced them to time served and restitution. The government had earlier seized money from several bank accounts, as well as a house in Patterson, California.
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According to the plea agreement, Nguyen and Dao owned an online clothing company operating out of Patterson under several names, including thoitrangmy, fashion4us, Fashionblast, One-Dream Thoi Trang Co, and One Dream Wholesale. from 2008 to 2013, they imported clothing from suppliers in China, who would ship the clothing to Nguyen and Dao with an express carrier acting as customs broker.
Nguyen and Dao pleaded guilty to declaring the imported apparel as samples, even though the clothing was sold for commercial gain, said the plea agreement. In this way they avoided paying duties on the imported apparel. To hide the transactions, they transferred money to suppliers in China in increments of less than $10,000 to avoid financial reporting requirements. They also admitted to buying houses in Patterson and San Jose with the proceeds.
As part of the agreement, Nguyen and Dao agreed to forfeit funds held in nine bank accounts, as well as their house in Patterson. They will jointly pay $70,000 in restitution, due immediately. Judge O’Neill also sentenced the husband and wife to 14 months in prison, which they have already served, as well as 36 months of supervised release.
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the plea agreement.