FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2009
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BRADFORD MAN SENTENCED TO 56 MONTHS FOR $850,000 FRAUD
BOSTON, MA - A Bradford, MA man was sentenced late Friday in federal court for an investment scheme which defrauded more than a dozen people of approximately $850,000.
Acting United States Attorney Michael K. Loucks, Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division and Susan Dukes, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Office, announced today that CHUONG VAN DUONG, age 59, of Bradford, MA, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to 56 months imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release and $854,110 in restitution. DUONG pled guilty to 14 counts of mail fraud and 5 counts of structuring transaction on January 26, 2007.
DUONG engaged in a multi-year scheme to defraud more than a dozen victims of approximately $850,000. He did so by falsely representing himself as a successful businessman dealing in the international exchange of commodities such as rice, garments, cement and sugar, and by using sham corporate entities and fictitious documents. DUONG persuaded victims to invest in his business activities with the promise that they would reap enormous profits in a short time frame. None of his victims ever received any profits, or repayment of their initial investment.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Balthazard of Loucks’ Economic Crimes Unit.
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