Asian behaving badly... funeral insurance scam edition! In San Jose, a businessman was sentenced to three years in prison for scamming dozens of families in the Vietnamese community out of thousands of dollars they thought would go toward funeral expenses: San Jose: Funeral insurance scam in Vietnamese community lands businessman in prison.53-year-old Davie Ba Ngo, former head of the now-defunct "Concerned Members Committee," pled no contest to felony charges of embezzling more than $200,000 from hundreds of local Vietnamese families who thought they were paying fees to ensure death-related expenses were covered for elder relatives.
Instead, Ngo and his assistant, Stephanie Tuyet Le, pocketed the money:
Members of the Concerned Members Committee paid a nominal fee of $35 a month for years. Depending on how long they contributed, the promised payouts ranged from $6,000 to $14,000.There's something just a little extra scummy about those who take advantage of cultural ties to exploit members of their own community. And now these folks don't know if they'll ever get that money back. Here's the press release from the District Attorney's office: SAN JOSE BUSINESSMAN AND ASSISTANT SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR DEATH BENEFITS EMBEZZLEMENT.
Because of Ngo's embezzlement, heirs weren't given the contractual funds and had to cover funeral expenses some other way. While both Ngo and Le have been ordered to pay restitution, Behrens said many of the victims in court were concerned about whether they will ever see it.
Le was given six months of jail and probation for one count of felony embezzlement.