Antonietta Nguyen has been sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for her role in orchestrating multiple fraud schemes against ABS Seafood, Inc., a major seafood wholesaler in San Francisco where she had previously served as chief financial officer.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston sentenced Nguyen on Nov.14. She was convicted in June of 12 felony counts, following her arrest in June 2023.

A federal court jury convicted Nguyen, 57, of Brisbane, of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion when she was chief financial officer for ABS Seafood of San Francisco.

Nguyen had been released on bond,  pending sentencing. Her sentencing hearing was originally scheduled for Oct. 10. She had faced a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy, 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for the count of conspiracy to transport monetary instruments for the purpose of laundering, and five years in prison and a $100,000 fine for each count of willful tax evasion.

Evidence presented at her two-week trial showed how, Nguyen used her access to ABS Seafood’s bank account and credit cards to divert millions of dollars to pay off her personal credit card, pay personal expenses on her corporate credit card, and authorize payment of fraudulent invoices from a seafood exporter in the Philippines that was formally owned by Nguyen’s brother.

Nguyen used the stolen funds to pay property taxes for her residence and a rental property, her children’s college tuition, and over a million dollars in luxury goods, among other expenses, prosecutors said.

From at least 2015 and continuing into 2020, Nguyen misappropriated approximately $2.7 million in company funds.  Nguyen traveled the world to purchase luxury purses, scarves, and other items, which she stored in a designated room in her home.  She also provided corporate credit cards to her family members and authorized charges including luxury vacations that were ultimately paid for by ABS Seafood.

The court found that over the course of six-and-a-half years, Nguyen cost ABS Seafood over $9 million through her fraud schemes.

The jury also convicted Nguyen of evading federal taxes by failing to report her true income from ABS Seafood.  Nguyen’s personal income taxes omitted the millions in benefits that she received from ABS Seafood through the payment for personal expenses.  In total, the court found that Nguyen owed an additional $121,336 in unpaid taxes related to the unreported income.

Nguyen, 57, of Brisbane, was a minority shareholder of ABS Seafood, a private wholesale company.  Nguyen used the stolen funds to pay for personal travel, purses and other luxury goods from Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Goyard, Chanel, and Neiman Marcus, property taxes for one of her residences, and college tuition fees for a relative.

The jury also found that Nguyen devised an inflated invoice scheme involving family members who operated Pescaderia Pacifica International, Inc., a Filipino seafood exporter that was one of ABS’s top vendors and main source for tuna imported into the United States.

Nguyen caused ABS to pay over double the true value of the imported seafood by creating false invoices that Nguyen hid from others at the company. Her family members then split the proceeds, with some of the money being wired back to bank accounts in the United States in the names of Nguyen’s husband and daughters.

“The defendant devised multiple ways to defraud her business partners of several millions of dollars and got away with it for over six years. She exploited her position of trust in order to fund a lavish lifestyle for herself and her family members,” said United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian.