Defendant Used Fictitious Names and a Shell Company to Receive Stolen Parts
Valued at Approximately $1 million
14 April 2005 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced that a federal jury convicted Vinh Quang (“Vincent”) Duong today of one count of conspiring to transport stolen or fraudulently obtained goods from Mexico to the United States, six counts of transporting those fraudulently obtained goods from Mexico to the United States, and one count of making false statements to the FBI. The guilty verdict followed a five day jury trial in Oakland before U.S. District Court Judge D. Lowell Jensen.
Mr. Duong, 31, of San Jose, was indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2003. Another federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment against Mr. Duong in October 2004. That superseding indictment alleged that around March 2002, Mr. Duong bribed a former employee of Sanmina-SCI, Inc. to ship electronic parts from a plant in Guadalajara, Mexico, to a shell company of Mr. Duong’s at prices far below the market value of those parts – in many instances at prices as low as 1% of market value. Testimony at trial showed that Mr. Duong paid approximately $9,000 to this corporate employee, and in return, the employee obtained unauthorized access to Sanmina-SCI’s computer system, created false shipping documents and invoices, and caused approximately $1,000,000 worth of electronic components to be shipped from Sanmina-SCI’s Mexico plant to the shell company operated by the defendant in the East Bay. The employee previously pled guilty to international transportation of stolen goods and testified at Mr. Duong’s trial.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Mr. Duong created a shell company called “Parity Technologies, Inc.” for the express purpose of receiving these stolen parts shipments while he continued to operate his other business under the name “Shining Star Technologies.” Evidence showed that Mr. Duong then sold substantial amounts of the fraudulently obtained parts through the business “Shining Star Technologies.” Evidence also showed that Mr. Duong did not pay at all for the fraudulently obtained parts until the day after the FBI interviewed him in connection with this investigation. After that interview, evidence presented indicated that Mr. Duong withdrew substantial amounts of cash from his bank accounts, purchased money orders, and sent about $16,000 to Sanmina-SCI. Mr. Duong was also convicted of lying to FBI agents during that interview.
The sentencing of Mr. Duong is scheduled for July 22, 2005, at 10:00 a.m., before Judge Jensen in Oakland. The maximum statutory penalty for each count is five years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and restitution to Sanmina-SCI. The sentence, however, will be imposed by the Court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. 3553.
The conviction is the result of a lengthy investigation led by Special Agent John Gabriel of the FBI. Doug Sprague is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case.
A copy of this press release and related court filings 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 on .
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Luke Macaulay at (415) 436-6757 or by email at Luke.Macaulay3@usdoj.gov .
