Tu Chau 'Bill' Lu, Racketeering, California 2023

Tu Chau 'Bill' Lu, 71, Former President of Saigon National Bank, Charged in Racketeering Indictment

LOS ANGELES – Federal authorities today arrested 11 defendants named in a sweeping racketeering indictment alleging a series of money laundering schemes that revolved around the former head of Saigon National Bank, based in Westminster, California, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker of the Central District of California.

The majority of the defendants arrested today are named in a racketeering indictment that was returned on Dec. 1 by a federal grand jury and unsealed today along with two other indictments returned by the grand jury over the past year. The three indictments charge a total of 20 defendants.

Six of the defendants named in the main indictment are charged with violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by playing key roles in a series of schemes to launder drug proceeds. At the center of the schemes is Tu Chau “Bill” Lu, 71, of Fullerton, California, who from 2009 through January 2015, was president and CEO of Saigon National Bank.

The indictment alleges that Lu and the other five defendants were members of a criminal organization that was involved in narcotics trafficking and international money laundering in countries that included the United States, China, Cambodia, Liechtenstein, Mexico and Switzerland. Lu allegedly used his insider knowledge, position as an official at Saigon National Bank and network of connections to promote and facilitate money laundering transactions involving members and associates of the enterprise.

In one scheme, an undercover informant delivered cash represented to be drug proceeds to defendants, who allegedly arranged for the cash to be converted into cashier’s checks made out to a company the informant claimed to own. Other conspiracies alleged in the indictment also involved the delivery of cash from the informant and the defendants’ alleged conversion of that money into cashier’s checks.

As part of the racketeering enterprise, Lu and others named in the RICO count allegedly floated a plan in which the informant and his boss (who was an actually an undercover law enforcement officer) would purchase a controlling interest in Saigon National Bank so they could have a financial institution that could easily facilitate money laundering operations.

Lu, Tsung Wen “Peter” Hung, 61, of Monterey Park, California, Edward Kim, 56, of Beverly Hills, California, Pablo Hernandez, 75, of Tijuana, Mexico, Emilio Herrera, 53, a Mexican citizen, and John Edmundson, 55, a British citizen who resides in Hong Kong, were arrested today. Two other defendants, who are named in separate indictments, were also arrested today.

The indictment charges Lu and the other five defendants with violating the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by playing key roles in a series of schemes to launder drug proceeds. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Tu Chau “Bill” Lu, 71, of Fullerton, California; Tsung Wen “Peter” Hung, 61, of Monterey Park, California; Edward Kim, 56, of Beverly Hills, California; Pablo Hernandez, 75, of Tijuana, Mexico; Emilio Herrera, 53, a Mexican citizen; and John Edmundson, 55, a British citizen who resides in Hong Kong, are currently in federal custody. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Central District of California and the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/sixteen-named-racketeering-indictment-alleging-money-laundering-schemes-orchestrated-former