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Victory Nam Ho

Morgan City man pleads guilty to failing to report over $250K in income on tax return

A Morgan City man pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Lafayette to failing to report more than $250,000 in income on his 2012 tax return, U.S. Attorney David Joseph said in a news release.

The same man, who's a former chairman of the Morgan City Housing Authority Board, was convicted in Baton Rouge earlier in May of insider trading in connection with the acquisition of Shaw Group in 2012.

On Wednesday, Victory Nam Ho, 39, of Morgan City, pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carol Whitehurst . The plea will become final when accepted by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote, Joseph said.

According to the 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.

Ho faces up to three years in prison, one year of supervised release, restitution and a $100,000 fine. His sentencing date is set for Aug. 31.

The IRS conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly P. Uebinger is prosecuting the case.

In August 2016, Ho resigned from the housing authority board following a drug arrest.

Earlier this month, Ho; Kelly Liu, 32, and Salvador Russo III, 35, both of Baton Rouge; 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, the news release said.

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

ST. MARY NOW

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