Ex-housing chairman sentenced to 15 months in prison for filing false tax return

A former Morgan City Authority board chairman was sentenced Friday to serve one year and three months in prison for failing to report more than $250,000 in income on his 2012 tax return.

Victory Nam Ho, 39, of Morgan City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote on one count of filing a false tax return, U.S. Attorney David Joseph of the Western District of Louisiana said in a news release. In August 2016, Ho, a former housing authority board chairman, resigned from the board following a drug arrest.

For filing a false tax return Ho was also sentenced to one year of supervised release and was ordered to pay $69,167 in restitution, Joseph said. According to the May 23, guilty plea, Ho engaged in stock transactions and made $251,196 in 2012, but when he filed his taxes, he reported $14,742 as his income. As a result, he paid no income tax that year, which resulted in a loss of $69,167 to the U.S. Treasury, Joseph said. The IRS conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Uebinger prosecuted the case.

Ho, Kelly Liu and Salvador Russo III were convicted of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and securities fraud, commonly known as insider trading, in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana in Baton Rouge. Ho made about $300,000 from the illegal insider trading activities, according to authorities.

In late July 2012, Shaw and Chicago Bridge and Iron Company, known as CB&I, came to an agreement whereby CB&I acquired all outstanding shares of Shaw stock. The merger between the two companies was publicly announced July 30, 2012. As a result of the public announcement, Shaw’s stock price rose substantially, a release said.

As the evidence established, prior to the public announcement and through her job at Shaw, Liu obtained inside information that Shaw was being acquired by another company and passed the inside information to Ho, through another individual, and to Russo, for their use in trading Shaw securities, a news release said.

Later, Ho and Russo purchased Shaw securities before the public announcement. Ho sold his Shaw securities after the public announcement caused Shaw’s stock price to rise, while Russo held his Shaw securities, a release stated.