Chhun [Yasith] sentenced in tax evasion case

By City News Service
Posted: 03/21/2011

LOS ANGELES - A self-appointed commander of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, a Long Beach-based group formed to seize political control in the country, was sentenced Monday to a concurrent term of 37 months in prison for tax evasion.

Yasith Chhun (pictured), a 54-year-old U.S. citizen, was previously sentenced in June to a life term for conspiring to kill in a foreign country and other federal counts stemming from his 2008 conviction. The same year, Chhun pleaded guilty to conspiring to file false tax returns and aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns. Chhun admitted operating an accounting service that filed false tax returns for numerous taxpayers, resulting in a loss of more than $400,000, according to court papers.

Before Chhun was sentenced to the life term last summer, U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson expressed some sympathy for the defendant, who told the judge he formed the 200-strong Cambodian Freedom Fighters partly to avenge the murder of his father at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.

"I don't think Mr. Chhun is an evil human being," the judge said. "I think he's had a tragic life - and had the misfortune of being born in a place where terrible things were happening."

Chhun, a former Long Beach accountant who came to the U.S. as a refugee in 1982, was found guilty in 2010 of charges of conspiracy and engaging in a military expedition against a nation with which the United States is at peace.

Jurors were told

Chhun planned "Operation Volcano" to overthrow the government of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. The failed attempt resulted in the deaths of at least six people, including a 15-year-old boy.