Tuesday, June 7, 2011 | 4:14 p.m.
A resident of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., pleaded guilty today in Las Vegas before U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson to six counts of filing false liens against employees and officers of the federal government.
The announcement regarding Thanh Viet Jeremy Chao was made by the Justice Department, Internal Revenue Service and Office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
According to the plea agreement, Cao was a defendant in a civil fraud action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission related to an investment scheme. He was also identified as the owner of an asset seized by the U.S. Secret Service related to the fraud. Cao was additionally under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California and the Secret Service for criminal offenses arising from the investment scheme. The IRS-Criminal Investigation Division also investigated Chao for tax returns he prepared for himself and others that claimed large refunds based upon fictitious tax withholdings.
Cao filed 22 false liens in Nevada and Clark County against SEC attorneys, federal judges, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, assistant U.S. attorneys, and special agents of the IRS and Secret Service.
Each lien alleged that the lien victims were “debtors” of Cao for hundreds of millions of dollars. According to the plea agreement, Cao admitted that all the liens were false and agreed that they be expunged from the public record.
Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 21 in Las Vegas.
This case was prosecuted by attorneys Christopher Strauss and Joseph Rillotta of the Department of Justice’s Tax Division.
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