An Alhambra man who worked as a sales manager for a motorsports company was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in federal prison for embezzling money owed to his employer and filing false tax returns, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit announced.
Wing Hong Lee, 50, who was employed Maxtrade LLC — a South El Monte-based wholesaler and retailer of recreational vehicles and motorsports accessories — was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips in Los Angeles.
According to the IRS, the court found that Lee embezzled $478,434 from Maxtrade and then failed to report the illicit money to the IRS.
Phillips also ordered Lee to pay a total of $659,177 in restitution to Maxtrade and the IRS.
Lee pleaded guilty on March 13 to one count of subscribing to a false tax return.
According to the IRS, Lee processed customer orders for Maxtrade and created invoices for them. After the goods had been shipped and received by the customers, “Lee falsely and fraudulently informed Maxtrade’s accounting department that the customers had canceled the orders,” meaning the accounting department did not expect to receive payments, the agency said.
The IRS said Lee actually pocketed the money the customers paid to Maxtrade. Lee also admitted he lied on his federal income tax returns for the tax years 2010 through 2015, the IRS said.