Placentia recovered more than $4 million allegedly embezzled by former financial manager
The city of Placentia has recovered more than $4 million of the $5.16 million allegedly embezzled by its former financial services manager, officials said Thursday.
A court ruling last week allowed $2.6 million seized by the Orange County district attorney’s office as part of the ongoing investigation to be returned to the city. Officials say they are processing a $1-million crime insurance policy, adding to the more than $1 million already recovered this year with help from the FBI Cyber Task Force, following the arrest of Michael Minh Nguyen.
“The recovery of the majority of funds within such a short time frame demonstrates the power of the partnerships between our two agencies,” City Administrator Damien Arrula said of Placentia’s work with the district attorney’s office.
“Placentia is fully committed to recovering all the funds lost and restoring the public’s trust in the city’s business practices and operations,” added Mayor Jeremy Yamaguchi.
City leaders say they implemented new policies and procedures to protect their accounting systems after Nguyen’s alleged crimes were discovered in April.
Nguyen, 34, is accused of masterminding a series of wire transfers between Jan. 27, 2014 and April 12, 2016 to different private accounts, altering financial ledgers to hide his activities.
Officials initially charged Nguyen, of Irvine, with 17 felony counts of misappropriation of public funds with sentencing enhancements for aggravated white collar crime over $500,000 and property loss over $3.2 million.
More charges were filed in June, including an additional 19 felony counts of misappropriation of public funds, 66 felony counts of money laundering, one felony count of making a nonsufficient funds check and two felony counts of falsifying records, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.
If convicted on all the charges, he faces a maximum sentence of 97 years and eight months in state prison and a fine of $10.3 million. He has pleaded not guilty.
Nguyen is being held on $4.3 million bail. If he posts bond, he must prove the money is from a legitimate source.
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