LOS ANGELES—A Los Angeles County woman pleaded guilty April 26 to using counterfeit postage to ship millions of parcels in a scheme prosecutors say caused the U.S. Postal Service to lose more than $60 million.
Lijuan “Angela” Chen, 51, of Walnut, entered her plea in downtown Los Angeles to federal counts of conspiracy and forging and counterfeiting postage stamps, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Sentencing was set for Aug. 2.
Ms. Chen provided shipping and postage services to businesses, including e-commerce vendors operating out of China, that sought discounted USPS rates for mailing their products within the United States.
“Multiple examinations conducted by USPS and USPIS staff have revealed that the vast majority of the postage used by Ms. Chen and her business to ship goods within the United States is counterfeit,” prosecutors wrote in papers filed in Los Angeles federal court.
Ms. Chen’s Industry-based business received parcels from the vendors and others, applied shipping labels showing postage purportedly paid, then arranged for the parcels to be transferred to USPS facilities to be shipped across the nation.
A USPS analyst estimates that between Nov. 1 and April 30, Ms. Chen and her employees shipped over 9 million mail parcels containing counterfeit postage, resulting in estimated revenue losses to the USPS of over $60 million, the indictment says.
Ms. Chen’s shipping business was previously operated by her husband, who left for China two days after being interviewed by postal inspectors in November 2019, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
