An FBI-wanted fraudster from Houston has finally been caught in Vietnam.
The fugitive, Emily Tieu, was originally indicted over a massive genetic testing Medicare scam. She and her co-conspirators operated a lab that had the audacity to bill the US federal health program more than $140 million—and actually managed to pocket over $90 million of it. It is the kind of mind-boggling sum that an ordinary person could not make a fraction of in a lifetime of work.
Tieu was actually arrested two years ago, but while out on bail awaiting trial, she managed to tamper with her GPS tracking anklet. Not stopping there, she used a fake identity to board a private jet and flee to Vietnam. A furious FBI slapped a $155,000 bounty on her head for a global manhunt. Her run has finally come to an end in the alleyways of Southeast Asia, though local media has yet to release the specifics of how she was pinned down.
Reading the news over an iced coffee at a Phnom Penh tea stall, it makes you realize how strange the world can be. To run off with tens of millions of dollars only to end up dodging the law amid the motorbike exhaust and tropical heat of this region. What is the point of having money you cannot spend safely while living in constant fear every single day?
