A San Gabriel Valley woman pleaded guilty to defrauding over $150 million from the U.S. Postal Service.
Lijuan “Angela” Chen, 51, of Walnut, carried out the scheme by using counterfeit postage to ship tens of millions of packages, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
From November 2019 to May 2023, Chen and her accomplice, Chuanhua “Hugh” Hu, 51, owned and operated a package shipping business in the City of Industry.
The company provided shipping services for China-based logistics businesses.
To save money, Hu created fake postage stamps to ship packages by printing duplicate and counterfeit Netstamps, which are stamps purchased online from third-party vendors and printed onto adhesive paper.
In November 2019, authorities became aware of the counterfeit operation and Hu fled the country and moved to China where he continued making counterfeit postage, officials said.
Chen remained in the U.S. to oversee the warehouses that she and and Hu were using to ship their packages during the scheme.