United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

DENTIST’S WIFE SENTENCED TO
15 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON

Trinh Tran Admitted to Taking Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars
from Husband’s Dental Practice and Structuring Transactions

United States Attorney Richard B. Roper announced that Trinh Tran was sentenced yesterday by the Honorable David C. Godbey, United States District Judge, to 15 months imprisonment and ordered to forfeit a parcel of real estate she owns in Collin County, Texas.

Tran pled guilty in November to one count of structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements to the Internal Revenue Service. Judge Godbey ordered that she surrender to the Bureau of Prisons no later than March 20, 2006.

According to documents filed in Court, Tran admitted that she devised a scheme to take currency from her husband’s dental practice and place the money in more secure locations. After several hundred thousand dollars had been generated and secured in this manner, Tran began structuring the currency into eight different bank accounts ---- three accounts she controlled plus accounts of other individuals. She structured approximately $500,000 in financial transactions between December 12, 2003 and January 7, 2004.

Tran then had a cashier’s check issued, from each bank account into which the structured funds were placed, in the amount of the structured amount. Tran and her dentist husband used these cashiers’ checks to buy a piece of property, located in Collin County, which they will forfeit to the government, as result of her guilty plea.

Tran further admitted in Court documents that she was well aware of a financial institution’s legal obligation to report transactions in excess of $10,000 and that her transactions were designed to evade that reporting obligation.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). Assistant United States Attorneys Chad E. Meacham and John DeLaGarza prosecuted the case.

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