A former assistant controller at a St. Paul mortgage services firm was sentenced to 39 months in prison this week after pleading guilty to siphoning hundreds of thousands of dollars from his employer through a fake vendor account. Hle Thao, 42, of Maplewood, admitted to four counts of theft by swindle in a scheme that unfolded over several years before an internal audit caught up with him.
According to Pioneer Press, Thao was sentenced under the terms of his plea agreement to 39 months behind bars and ordered to repay $543,638.05 to the insurance carrier that covered the loss, plus reimburse Indecomm Global Services’ $25,000 insurance deductible. Indecomm is a New Jersey-based company that provides technology and business services for the mortgage industry, with an office in St. Paul where Thao worked.
A Dummy Account Hiding in Plain Sight
Thao’s path into Indecomm’s finances began in 2007, when he started as an account specialist. Per twincities.com, he was promoted to lead accountant in 2011 and then to assistant controller three years later, climbing into a position with real control over how money moved through the company.
It was in that role that prosecutors say Thao created a bogus account labeled “Pitney Bowes Reserve” inside Indecomm’s vendor-payment software. The fake account, per the same account, let him direct company payments away from legitimate vendors and into his own personal Wells Fargo bank account instead of where they belonged.
Charges Covered Only Part of the Alleged Total
The criminal charges against Thao reflected $384,700 diverted into his Wells Fargo account between October 1, 2020, and March 31, 2023, the report notes. That figure, notably, excluded any funds he may have transferred before October 2020 or money moved into his other accounts, meaning the charged amount represented only a portion of the alleged scheme’s full scope.
Thao himself gave investigators a far larger number. When an Indecomm attorney asked him directly, according to the same report, Thao said the total he had misdirected was “around” $650,000. He also told investigators he had already spent the money and had no way to repay Indecomm.
Fired for Being Unreachable, Then Caught
Thao’s undoing began with ordinary workplace trouble. He was fired in February 2023 for excessive absenteeism, including being unreachable while he was supposed to be working from home. It was only after his termination that an Indecomm internal audit uncovered the dummy account and traced the missing money back to him.
Indecomm attorney Katherine Baird described Thao as a stellar and well-regarded employee for nearly all of his 16 years with the company, but said his conduct ultimately amounted to a betrayal of trust. Thao apologized to Indecomm before he was sentenced.
Gambling Addiction Cited, Prison Still Ordered
Thao’s defense attorney, Mark Kelly, argued that a gambling addiction drove his client to commit the theft and asked Ramsey County District Judge Kellie Charles to impose a stayed sentence, with probation and workhouse time instead of prison. The judge denied that request. Thao has attended therapy and Gamblers Anonymous meetings, and prosecutor Tom Madison said Thao started working in an accounting position for another employer in December 2024. Madison also said the state was not aware of any payments Thao had made to Indecomm toward repaying the loss.
Thao had no prior criminal convictions aside from a misdemeanor DWI in 2009. Minnesota’s theft-by-swindle statute, under which Thao was charged, covers obtaining property or services from another person by swindling, whether by artifice, trick, device, or any other means, according to the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes.
