21 January 2005 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced that David Hung Truong, 35, of Southern California, was indicted today by a federal grand jury in San Jose for allegedly defrauding eBay users of thousands of dollars in auctions for automobiles he never intended to deliver.
According to the indictment, between October 2003 and January 2004, Mr. Truong
defrauded eBay users of approximately $40,000 in connection with eBay auctions for
automobiles. As part of a scheme to host auctions online using aliases such as
“finestcar2000s” and “acura-r-us,” Mr. Truong allegedly deposited proceeds from his
scheme into two bank accounts he opened. The automobiles ranged in price from just over $11,000 to over $20,000, including several Acuras and a Mercedes Benz.
The indictment charges defendant with six counts of wire fraud in violation of 18
U.S.C. § 1343. The maximum statutory penalty for each violation is 20 years
imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. However, any sentence will be determined by
the court following conviction after taking into account the United States
Sentencing Guidelines, which consider a number of factors.
The prosecution is being handled by the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property
(CHIP) Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shashi
Kewalramani from the CHIP Unit is prosecuting the case with the help of legal
assistant Mimi Lam. This prosecution is a result of an investigation by the San
Francisco Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. eBay also assisted in
this investigation.
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website
at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can. Related court documents and
information may be found on the District Court website at www.cand.uscourts.gov or
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