Date: November 22, 2022 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Pittsburgh, PA — A Florida resident has pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges, United States Attorney Cindy Chung announced today. The plea of guilty was entered by Thac Duc Le, formerly of Venetia, Pennsylvania, currently from Davie, Florida. According to the information presented to the Court, during the period April 2013 through August 2016, Le operated a business in Bellevue, PA, called Last Call Entertainment. While Last Call was a second-hand reseller of small electronics goods, Le also participated in buying health and beauty products (makeup, lipstick, etc.), over the counter medications (ibuprofen, aspirin, dietary supplements) and a wide variety of miscellaneous products (teeth whitening strips, electronic toothbrushes, pet products, small electronics like calculators, etc.), all purchased from walk-in sellers. These walk-in sellers were almost always addicted to various drugs and had shoplifted the products they were offering for sale to Le from local retail merchants. The Court heard of evidence that Le paid these walk-in sellers pennies on the dollar and in turn resold these stolen items on Amazon and that Amazon in turn paid him, by electronic funds transfers, more than $400,000 during the time period of the Indictment. Chief Judge Mark Hornak accepted Le's plea of guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. Le was released on bond after assuring the Court that he would return for sentencing. The Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the United States Postal Inspection Service, together with a number of local police departments, conducted the investigation leading to the indictment in this case, and others that remain pending.
