Lawyer representing mother-daughter ID theft ring pleads not guilty to witness tampering

SEATTLE -- King County prosecutors have charged an attorney representing suspects in an identity theft ring led by a mother-daughter team with Tampering With A Witness.

Attorney Alexander Ying-Chi Chan appeared in court last week where he pleaded not guilty.

Detectives say they recovered evidence related to narcotics and identity theft in Chan’s car during the initial 2016 investigation into the fraud ring that police say was run by 46-year-old Kim Le, aka “Mamma Fu” and “The Gold Lady,” and her daughter, 26-year-old Anh Nguyen, aka ‘The Profile Lady’.

Police raided Le’s home in Skyway in March 2016 and say they found evidence of an industrial-scale identification theft operation that stole more than $395,000 from victims.

Seattle police continued to investigate Chan and arrested him at the King County Courthouse on May 24, 2017.  Prosecutors say he contacted several defendants who were not his clients and tried to coordinate testimonies to help his own clients. He is also accused of paying for various attorneys to represent members of the ID theft ring.

During his arraignment, prosecutors requested a no-contact order between Chan and the other defendants in the ID theft case, including Nguyen.

“The reason why the state is asking for the no contact order is because the state strongly believes the defendant (Chan) will interfere with the administration of justice as he has done so far,” senior deputy prosecutor Mafe Rajul

Chan’s attorney argued that he had essentially become a part of Nguyen’s family and had no intention of interfering in her case.  Saying there is evidence Chan has ‘legal boundary issues’, the judge ordered him to have no contact with Nguyen or any of the other defendants.

The court also ordered Chan to surrender his passport, which he did. His attorney said it was expired anyway and he would have no problem giving it to detectives. Chan is free on $150,000 bail.

“The next step is to have a case setting hearing and at that time, we will start negotiating the case and it may or may not go to trial,” Rajul said.