2 Philadelphia Men Sentenced In $2.4M Fraud Scheme Targeting Linthicum Company
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced two Philadelphia men for conspiring to scam a Linthicum company out of $2.4 million.
Chief U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Mean Peach, 65, to two years in federal prison. Eam Peng Chou, 56, received a year and a day in federal prison. Each will serve three years of supervised release after their prison terms are up, prosecutors said. Bredar also ordered each man to pay $1.6 million in restitution.
Peach, Chou and co-defendants Chonnathason Has and Thi Ho worked with Kevin Miller, the director of planning, logistics and control for the Linthicum company. He was in the business of making personal care products like hair care and lotions.
Miller was responsible for determining the timing and volume requirements for materials the company used in manufacturing and could independently approve payments of invoices submitted by vendors and service providers.
The five co-conspirators admitted in plea agreements to working to defraud the company in a scheme dating back to September 2015. At that time, the company gave Miller the task of finding vendors to dispose of waste products stored at their two Maryland warehouses.
The co-conspirators set up shell companies to submit fraudulent invoices for waste disposal and other work that was never done. Miller signed off on the fraudulent invoices, causing the company to cut checks to the scammers, who would then cash the checks in Philadelphia.
Ho was earlier sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution. Has is set to be sentenced next week and Miller will face sentencing in October.