CRM (202) 616-2777WWW.USDOJ.GOV
TDD (202) 514-1888
NEW JERSEY BUSINESS WOMAN INDICTED ON PERJURY CHARGES
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A five-count federal indictment was unsealed today in Newark, New Jersey, charging Audrey Yu, an Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, businesswoman with perjury during her appearance before the grand jury on September 24, 1999.
The indictment, returned on Friday, December 3, 1999, by a federal grand jury in Newark, New Jersey, was signed on behalf of the United States Department of Justice's Campaign Financing Task Force. Yu is the 21st person charged by the Campaign Financing Task Force, which was established by Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate allegations of campaign financing abuses in the 1996 election cycle.
The indictment alleges that Yu lied about her knowledge of the location and destruction of Bright & Bright Corporation documents, then located at 464 Hudson Terrace in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. On October 1, 1999, federal agents executed a search warrant at the 464 Hudson Terrace address.
The Campaign Financing Task Force has been conducting a campaign financing investigation as Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey because of the recusal of the former United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey. The case has been investigated by the Newark Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Yu was arrested today on a federal warrant signed by United States Magistrate Judge G. Donald Haneke. In a hearing before Judge Haneke, Yu was released on a $50,000 bond and ordered to surrender her United States passport. Yu will be arraigned on the charges on Monday, December 13, 1999. No trial date has been set.
An indictment is merely an accusation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
In addition to Yu, the Task Force has charged 20 other individuals and one corporation for offenses relating to violations of the campaign financing laws.
On December 1, 1999, Carmine Alampi, a Bergen County New Jersey Attorney, entered his guilty plea in United States District Court in Newark, New Jersey, to a one-count Information filed by United States Department of Justice's Campaign Financing Task Force alleging his illegal campaign contributions to United States Senator Robert Torricelli's 1996 Campaign.
On November 1, 1999, Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie, a Little Rock, Arkansas businessman, was sentenced, after pleading guilty to a two-count information filed in Little Rock, Arkansas, to three years probation, four months home detention, 200 hours of community service, and a $5,000 fine for violating federal campaign finance laws by making political contributions in someone else's name and by causing a false statement to be made the Federal Election Commission. Antonio Pan was also indicted with Trie in the District of Columbia, but has not yet been prosecuted because he has remained outside the United States.
On September 15, 1999, Lawrence Penna, the former President of a now-defunct New Jersey securities firm, was charged with violating election laws by funneling illegal campaign contributions to the 1996 federal election campaigns of President Clinton and the Torricelli Campaign. Penna's case was transferred by agreement to New York where charges relating to his violation of United States securities laws were pending. The Don, Alampi, and Penna cases were also investigated by the FBI's Newark Division.
On August 16, 1999, a federal judge sentenced Robert S. Lee to three years of probation and 250 hours of community service for aiding and abetting the making of an illegal foreign campaign contribution to the Democratic National Committee.
On August 12, 1999, former Lippo Executive John Huang pleaded guilty to a felony charge, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, that he conspired with other employees of the Indonesia-based Lippo Group to make campaign contributions and reimburse employees with corporate funds or with funds from Indonesia. He was sentenced to one year of probation, 500 hours of community service, a $10,000 fine and directed by the judge to continue cooperating with the investigation as a condition of his probation.
In June 1999, Berek Don, former GOP party leader in Bergen County, NJ, also pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions to the Torricelli Campaign. Don is to be sentenced by Judge Wolin in February 2000.
In June 1999, Yogesh Gandhi pleaded guilty in San Francisco to mail fraud, tax evasion, and violating federal election laws by aiding and abetting the making of a political campaign contribution by a foreign national. He has yet to be sentenced.
On March 23, 1999, Juan C. Ortiz, the Chief Financial Officer of Future Tech International, Inc., was sentenced to two years probation, $20,000 in fines, and 200 hours in community service for acting as a conduit for an illegal campaign contribution and participating in the reimbursement of eight other conduit contributions.
On December 14, 1998, Johnny Chung was sentenced to probation and 3,000 hours of community service for bank fraud, tax evasion and two misdemeanor counts of conspiring to violate election law.
On November 24, 1998, Howard Glicken, a fund-raiser for the Democratic party, was sentenced to 18 months probation, an $80,000 fine, and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service for violating campaign finance laws.
On November 4, 1998, Franklin Haney was indicted on more than 40 counts of conspiring with another to defraud the United States by impairing and impeding the FEC and conspiring to violate specific provisions of federal election law. He was acquitted of all charges on June 30, 1999.
On September 30, 1998, Democratic fund-raiser Mark B. Jimenez was indicted in Washington, D.C. on 17 counts of organizing, making and concealing illegal conduit contributions to a number of Democratic campaigns, including the Torricelli Campaign. In December 1998, Future Tech International, Jimenez' Miami based computer sales company, pleaded guilty to tax offenses resulting from its illegal deduction of a $100,000 contribution to the DNC and employee campaign contributions reimbursed through the company's payroll. On April, 15, 1999, Jimenez, who is now in the Philippines, was indicted in Miami on additional charges of tax evasion and fraud. The task force is pursuing Jimenez' extradition from the Philippines.
On July 13, 1998, DNC fund-raiser Pauline Kanchanalak and her business associate Duangnet "Georgie" Kronenerg were charged with conspiring to impair and impede the FEC, and causing the submission of false statements to the FEC. Trial is scheduled for April 2000. A dismissed portion of the Kanchanalak case is currently on appeal.
In February 1998, Maria Hsia was indicted in Washington, D.C. on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States and causing false statements to be submitted to the FEC. Her trial is scheduled for January 2000. The trial had been postponed pending an appeal of a ruling by the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., which had dismissed the false statement counts. In May 1999, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. overturned the ruling and reinstated those counts. The task force dismissed a second indictment on tax charges after a jury in Los Angeles failed to reach a verdict.
In 1997, the Task Force obtained guilty pleas from Democratic fund-raisers Nora and Gene Lum, and their daughter Trisha, and Michael Brown for illegal fund-raising activities after their cases were referred from Independent Counsel Daniel Pearson. In August 1998, Gene Lum pleaded guilty to filing a false 1994 tax return and falsely preparing Nora's 1994 tax return. After cooperating with the government, he was sentenced in June 1999, to two years in prison. Nora was sentenced to five months in a halfway house, five months in home detention, and ordered to pay a $30,000 fine. Trisha Lum and Michael Brown each received probation, a $5,000 fine, costs of more than $7,000, and were ordered to perform 150 hours of community service.
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