Friday, March 06, 2009

US officer charged with stealing Iraq relief funds

A US military officer was charged Thursday with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash intended for relief and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Justice said.

While stationed in Iraq between April 2007 and February 2009, 28-year-old Michael Dung Nguyen is alleged to have stolen more than 690,000 dollars in US currency, sending it back to his home in northwestern Oregon state, the department said in a statement.

The funds were swiped from the Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP), designed to empower local commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan to respond to humanitarian relief and reconstruction efforts.

After his return from Iraq, Nguyen is accused of opening new accounts at numerous banks, including Bank of America and Washington Mutual Bank, to deposit the cash.

After making the deposits "in a manner intended to avoid detection," according to the Justice Department, Nguyen allegedly attempted money laundering with the purchases of high-end goods.

He bought a luxury BMW vehicle and a 2009 model Hummer truck H3T, along with computers, electronic equipment and furniture, the indictment said.

Nguyen has been officially charged on three counts -- theft of government property, money laundering and structuring financial transaction -- and if convicted could face 30 years in prison and a 500,000-dollar fine.
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1 comment:

airJackie said...

Will Bremmer, Hastert, Bush, Rummy and others be charged with stealing Iraq's money that was held by Saddam. Look Hastert got his money brought to his second home by the Military and Bremmer took his with him when he left. Even the Iraq Judge who was in charge of investigating the case was fired and moved to the US and now lives in the home brought by the US taxpayers and he is giving enough money to live for the rest of his life as long as he keeps his mouth shut. The Iraq bank in the Green Zone was robbed of billions of US dollars as the White House refuse to investigate but just said give Iraq bank another billion dollars. There are so many thieves involved in what took place.