A Huntington Beach account manager who quietly siphoned nearly $2.9 million from a Garden Grove instant-noodle company has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison, capping a years-long embezzlement scheme that funded a luxury lifestyle, according to prosecutors. Along with the prison term, 50-year-old Tae Miyaji Jones was ordered to repay $2,894,441 in restitution and to forfeit high-end goods and real estate tied to the thefts. Prosecutors say she hid the ongoing losses behind doctored records that allowed the scheme to run for years before anyone caught on.
In a press release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Jones pleaded guilty in October 2025 to seven counts of mail fraud and three counts of wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Fred W. Slaughter handed down the 30-month sentence and restitution order. Prosecutors say Jones ran the scam from December 2017 through July 2023, and that Assistant U.S. Attorneys Clifford D. Mpare and Alexander Su led the case.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Jones started at the noodle company in 2010 and had check-signing authority, a level of trust that prosecutors say she exploited by routing corporate money into her own accounts. According to that reporting, prosecutors said the stolen funds went toward jewelry, designer handbags, and homes in Madison, Alabama, and Waikoloa, Hawaii. The Times also quoted a spokesperson from the U.S. attorney’s office who noted that schemes like this can quietly continue for years before anyone spots the missing money.
How prosecutors say she concealed the thefts
Prosecutors say Jones covered her tracks by falsifying internal records and using the mail to move company funds into accounts she controlled. In one example cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Jones mailed a $42,600 company check in July 2023 to American Express to pay her personal credit card, while recording the transaction as a routine vendor payment. As part of the case, she agreed to forfeit luxury items and the Alabama and Hawaii properties that prosecutors say were bought with stolen funds, which are being pulled back to help make the victim company whole…