A man who pled guilty in April to a conspiracy charge connected to a $5 million postage "scheme" was sentenced Monday to three years probation and ordered to forfeit more than $860,000 prosecutors say he made through the scheme.
Cuong H. Nguyen, who entered his plea in federal court in San Diego, admitted he was involved in a "counterfeiting, forging and tampering scheme" that took place between 2015-19. Prosecutors built a case against Nguyen involving more than 160,000 packages that were stamped by postage meters. Nguyen used a Click-n-Ship system to send packages of beverages and food products from his San Diego businesses. The defendant "misrepresented information appearing on postage labels attached to packages in several ways—including misstating the weight, size, destination and origin of the packages."
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"Those who defraud the Postal Service are effectively stealing from the U.S. Treasury and the nation’s taxpayers," Acting U.S. Attorney Randy S. Grossman was quoted in a press release sent out after the case was settled.
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Prosecutors said Nguyen underpaid the Postal Service $5,127,712.88, netting $862,374 for Nguyen, his business and others.
Nguyen, who forfeited the $862,374 as part of his agreement with prosecutors, faced as much as five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
The City News Service contributed to this report — Ed.
