A Burnsville resident, Thomas Thanh Pham, has admitted to wire fraud charges related to a scheme that defrauded an electronics manufacturing company of over $1.2 million. This announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Luger.
Court documents reveal that between 2019 and 2020, Pham, aged 53 and CEO of Enterprise Products, LLC, devised a plan to deceive a California-based company out of approximately $1.2 million. He presented himself as a broker with connections to major companies and claimed he could facilitate service agreements between the victimized electronics manufacturing services company in San Jose (referred to as Victim A) and his alleged business affiliates in the electronics sector.
Beginning in June 2019, Pham engaged in discussions with Victim A, proposing that Enterprise Products could secure lucrative manufacturing and repair contracts for them with large electronics firms. He provided fake documents such as contracts and business proposals to support his claims. As part of the deception, he required Victim A to pay a "deposit bond" amounting to $1,278,000. In September 2019, Victim A entered into a contract based on these fraudulent representations.
Pham further attempted other false deals with Victim A involving even larger financial arrangements with different companies. To create an illusion of fulfilling the contract's terms, Pham delivered around 20 electronic device samples purportedly needing repairs by Victim A but failed to disclose these items were stolen property.
Throughout the scheme, Pham misled Victim A by providing excuses and promises when they asked about their funds or requested refunds. Instead of holding the money securely as promised, he misappropriated it for unauthorized uses.
On January 3, 2025, Pham pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court before Judge Joan N. Ericksen to one count of wire fraud.
The FBI conducted the investigation leading to this case's prosecution by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew S. Ebert and Rebecca E. Kline.