SAN FRANCISCO LAWFUEL – FBI & IRS News – United States Attorney Scott Schools announced that yesterday a federal grand jury in San Jose, California, indicted Shiu Chau Wang, a/k/a Alex Wang and his wife, Stella Sue Wang Chu, a/k/a Sue W. Chu, of San Jose with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The defendants were arraigned today on the seven-count indictment in federal court before the Honorable Patricia V. Trumbull. The charges are the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Criminal Division of the Internal Revenue Service.
According to the indictment, Mr. Wang, age 52 (DOB: 10/20/54) and Ms. Chu, also age 52 (DOB:2/11/55) are alleged to have defrauded an individual in connection with Wang’s claim that he needed money to pay a tax that was being imposed by the United States government based on an inheritance he was to receive from his grandfather in China.
The indictment alleges that in an effort to obtain a nearly $400,000 loan to pay the claimed inheritance tax, Wang repeatedly assured a victim that he had sufficient equity in his home to serve as collateral for the loan. The victim, with the assistance of an attorney searched Santa Clara County records and learned that as of May 1, 2006, the defendants had sufficient equity in their home to secure the loan. Thus, the victim agreed to meet with the defendants on May 2, 2006, to execute a $370,000 promissory note backed by a deed of trust to the defendants’ San Jose home. The note stated that the money would be used to pay a United States Customs tax liability regarding Wang’s claimed inheritance. Unbeknownst to the victim, Wang and Chu withdrew over $350,000 of equity from their home days before they met with the victim on May 2, 2006.
The indictment alleges that the defendants deceived and defrauded the victim by failing to inform her at the May 2, 2006 meeting that there was no longer sufficient collateral in their home to secure the loan. The indictment further alleges that Wang did not send the money obtained from the victim to the U.S. Customs Service, Department of Homeland Security, but rather, he sent the money to a commercial account in Taiwan.
The investigation began when the victim filed a complaint with the FBI office in San Jose, California. The defendants, free on bail, are scheduled to appear before District Judge Jeremy Fogel on April 18, 2007, at 9:00am.
The maximum statutory penalty for charges are as follows:
Count One: Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371
5 years imprisonment
$250,000 fine
3 years supervised release
$100.00 special assessment
Counts Two through Five: Wire Fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C § 1343 and 2
30 years imprisonment
One million dollar fine
3 years supervised release
$100.00 special assessment
Count Six: Money Laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1957(a)
10 years imprisonment
$500,000 fine or twice the value of the monetary transfer
3 years supervised release
$100.00 special assessment
Count Seven: Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h)
10 years imprisonment
$500,000 fine or twice the value of the monetary transfer
3 years supervised release
$100.00 special assessment
However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
An indictment contains only allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Wang and Ms. Chu must be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Carlos Singh is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Tracey Andersen. The prosecution is the result of a six-month investigation by the FBI and the IRS.
