U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Gathe, Jr. | U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Gathe, Jr. | U.S. Department of Justice
A Georgia woman has been sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for embezzling over $1.6 million from a local business and laundering the fraudulent proceeds. U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson handed down the sentence to Thanh Hoa Thi Bui, also known as Xena Bui, aged 42, of Valdosta, Georgia. In addition to her prison term, Bui will serve three years of supervised release and must pay restitution amounting to $1,694,095.59.
Bui's guilty pleas revealed that between 2017 and 2020, while residing in Denham Springs, Louisiana, she worked at a small business on North Sherwood Forest Drive in Baton Rouge. Trusted with bookkeeping and accounting tasks among others, Bui exploited her position by making hundreds of fraudulent transactions using the company’s bank account.
Her methods included generating checks payable to herself under false pretenses and convincing her employer to sign them before depositing them into her personal accounts. She also used company funds for personal expenses such as utility bills for a chicken farm in Mississippi and payments related to real estate in Covington, Louisiana.
To hide her actions, Bui altered bank statements provided to her employer and manipulated the company's accounting program to disguise fraudulent transactions as legitimate vendor payments.
As part of the scheme's proceeds were obtained, Bui swiftly moved funds through various accounts or withdrew cash for other uses. On October 6, 2020, she deposited a fraudulently obtained check worth $56,252.52 into one of her accounts before withdrawing $50,000 and spending it at a casino over two days.
In July 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Bui on these charges leading to an arrest warrant issuance. She remained at large until October 2023 when authorities located and arrested her in Las Vegas.
The United States Secret Service led the investigation with assistance from the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office and Louisiana State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Alan A. Stevens prosecuted the case.
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