A Burnsville man has pleaded guilty to defrauding a California electronics manufacturer to the tune of over $1.2 million.
The Office of U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Andrew Luger says that Thomas Thanh Pham, 53, carried out the scheme while operating as CEO of Enterprise Products, LLC between 2019 and 2020.
He claimed to offer “consulting and financial services to commercial clients involved in engineering and manufacturing,” and presented himself as a broker with “business relationships with large, well-known companies.”
He presented himself as a go-between for a San Jose, CA-based electronics company and his supposed business affiliates, and pitched he could facilitate “multi-million-dollar manufacturing and repair contracts” between the company and his affiliates.
He provided phony documentation including contracts, correspondence and business proposals, and asked the electronics company to pay a “deposit bond” of $1.278 million.
The company signed the contract, and Pham initially sent the company 20 samples of electronic devices for the victim company to repair. These devices, however, were stolen property.