Man accused in fraud scheme now charged in murder-for-hire plot
By Shelley Murphy and Raja Mishra, Globe Staff
Boston Globe (Mass., USA)
Sitting in jail while awaiting trial on federal charges that he and his wife bilked hundreds of Cambodian immigrants out of more than $30 million through a fraudulent investment scheme, James Bunchan hired a purported hitman to kill 11 witnesses and another co-defendant, according to a federal indictment announced Friday.
But the alleged plot was thwarted when Bunchan, 52, of Attleboro, solicited an undercover FBI agent, posing as an assassin, to carry out the killings, the indictment said.
Some 400 Cambodians stretching from California to Massachusetts who were allegedly roped into a pyramid scheme operated by Bunchan, his wife, Seng Tan, and a second man, Christian Rochon. Between 2000 and 2005, victims were told they were investing in World Marketing Direct Selling Inc., a local vitamin and health supplement company, but many of them lost their life savings and homes while Bunchan was allegedly taking gambling trips to Las Vegas and buying a mansion and several Mercedes.
Bunchan and Tan, who have been jailed without bail since their arrest in November 2005, and Rochon, who is free on bail, are scheduled to stand trial June 4 in US District Court in Boston.
The murder-for-hire indictment alleges that while Bunchan was in the Plymouth County jail last July, he sent a letter to the purported hitman, offering to pay him to kill Rochon and 11 witnesses to prevent them from testifying.
Attorney Robert A. George, who represents Bunchan in the fraud case, said he would not comment on the new charges because he is focusing on the fraud case, which could send Bunchan to prison for life if he's convicted.
George said, however he was concerned that jurors in the fraud trial would hear about the alleged murder plot and be biased against his client.
But the alleged plot was thwarted when Bunchan, 52, of Attleboro, solicited an undercover FBI agent, posing as an assassin, to carry out the killings, the indictment said.
Some 400 Cambodians stretching from California to Massachusetts who were allegedly roped into a pyramid scheme operated by Bunchan, his wife, Seng Tan, and a second man, Christian Rochon. Between 2000 and 2005, victims were told they were investing in World Marketing Direct Selling Inc., a local vitamin and health supplement company, but many of them lost their life savings and homes while Bunchan was allegedly taking gambling trips to Las Vegas and buying a mansion and several Mercedes.
Bunchan and Tan, who have been jailed without bail since their arrest in November 2005, and Rochon, who is free on bail, are scheduled to stand trial June 4 in US District Court in Boston.
The murder-for-hire indictment alleges that while Bunchan was in the Plymouth County jail last July, he sent a letter to the purported hitman, offering to pay him to kill Rochon and 11 witnesses to prevent them from testifying.
Attorney Robert A. George, who represents Bunchan in the fraud case, said he would not comment on the new charges because he is focusing on the fraud case, which could send Bunchan to prison for life if he's convicted.
George said, however he was concerned that jurors in the fraud trial would hear about the alleged murder plot and be biased against his client.
5 comments:
No doubt, corruption started
abroad. Everywhere Ah Khmer-Yuons
go, trouble followed, period. I say
we deported them (troublemakers)
back to Vietnam now. We can't
affort to let them mess up Cambodia
again and again, like they did to
their own territories.
How long Enrron CEO got in prison time? Thousands of ex employee got conned out and short changed.
Let see if US justice is color blind except green inserted fraud proof electronic thread in Benjamin?
Other hand crime does not pay,even Sihanouk got to pay back eother way.
Yeah, and what crime have Sihanouk
commited?
Talking about a pyramid scheme, I too was a victim. I lost over 1 thousand dollars. I thought it was a long-term money making investment. It started when this Cambodian girl who worked as a social worker and her white husband invite the Cambodians to her house play the investment game. First I thought it was similar to this game called "Tong Tien", but no, I never got my money back at all. I was so desperate in getting my money back, and that Cambodian girl told me that to get the money back I had to go convince more people to put in the money under me so that I could become the top dog and reap the money back. I was like WTF? Anyway, I couldn't convince anyone to put the money into that pyramid scheme, so as a result I lost the money.
10:10PM's comment has no relevance whatsoever with the article concerned. Obviously, he used this article to justify his attack on Khmer Krom, but the culprits in this article are not Khmer Krom.
However, this shit-head is silent on all the troubles the Yuons have caused inside Cambodia. How many residential places in Phnom Penh were burned down to the ground by the Yuon gangs so far? He is probably one of the Yuon gang members who did it.
The Pyramid Scheme was first introduced in Cambodia after the UN-organised election, and it was backed by prominent CPP members who evidently profited from the scheme. When Bunchan fled Cambodia, taking with him money invested by poor Cambodians who trusted the scheme, the CPP switched to their usual mode of silence and denial for the mess they helped to create.
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