A father-daughter pair from Taiwan; 87-year-old Richard Chen and 57-year-old Voni Chen, were on the run from the United States authorities for more than 20 years after being convicted of mail fraud in 2001.
They were found and arrested in Singapore on 29 July after entering the country on 25 July, according to The Straits Times.
Background
The Chens were convicted in 2001 of mail fraud after using false invoices to get a loan of USD$5 million from a credit company.
The duo managed the Golden Pacific Manufacturing Corporation, which manufactures and sells plastic bags, with VOni as the president and Richard as the principal.
However, they soon experienced cashflow problems and plotted a scene to defraud a credit company by sending invoices with false orders.
They asked other companies to act as their customers, even though those companies had no business with their company.
They then asked their existing customers to represent that they had bought more goods from them than their actual orders, as well as creating shell companies to pose as their customers.
They then managed to get a loan based on the falsified invoices.
The father and daughter were then charged with mail fraud in October 2001, which they pleaded guilty to, but they failed to appear for their sentencing hearing in May 2002 and an arrest warrant was then issued.
Sent back to the US
The Chens were arrested in Singapore on a US provisional arrest request, and the Singapore minister of law has ordered for both of them to be extradited back to the US.
Voni was sent back to the US on 17 November and was in an Oakland federal court on 18 November.
Her father is currently awaiting transportation, which the Singapore police is assisting with.
The US Attorney’s Office said: “The US Justice Department, including the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, thanks the Singapore Police Force and Attorney-General’s Chambers for its cooperation with the United States.”