Pen Yu, a 51-year-old Taiwanese national, received a sentence on Friday for conspiring to commit wire fraud: three years and eight months in prison, officials stated.
Yu pleaded guilty on May 2.
Co-conspirator Gregory Muñoz pleaded guilty on May 9, and co-conspirator Jonathan Thyng pleaded guilty on July 23.
The court also entered an order to forfeit $100,000, the proceeds of the wire fraud, as part of Yu’s sentence.
According to court documents, from at least July 2016 to May 2023, Yu, with the assistance of Muñoz, a MilliporeSigma company salesperson, ordered biochemical products from MilliporeSigma by falsely claiming affiliation with a biology research lab at a large Florida university.
This deception led MilliporeSigma to provide Yu with over $4.9 million in discounts and benefits, including free overnight shipping.
Yu rewarded Muñoz with thousands of dollars in gift cards for facilitating these fraudulent orders.
Upon arrival at the university stockroom, a stockroom employee diverted the products to Yu, who repackaged and shipped them to China. To avoid scrutiny, the employee made false statements about the value and contents of these shipments in export documents.
The scheme continued until MilliporeSigma’s compliance team flagged certain orders as suspicious. The company then hired outside counsel, who disclosed the misconduct to the Department of Justice’s National Security Division just a week later, before fully understanding the scheme.
MilliporeSigma cooperated exceptionally with the prosecution, proactively providing documents that established probable cause for searching the residences and electronic devices of those involved, according to authorities.
This cooperation helped investigators quickly identify Yu, Muñoz, and Thyng, leading to their felony guilty pleas.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. Marcet for the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorney Garrett Coyle of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the cases.