U.S. has charged three senior employees of Telekom Malaysia (TM) for allegedly embezzling more than $20 million from the state-owned telecom firm, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Authorities said Mohd Hafiz Lockman, Mohd Yuzaimi Yusof and Khanh Thuong Nguyen, senior executives at TM’s U.S. subsidiary, allegedly used forged records and false statements to divert company funds and mislead suppliers, auditors, counterparties and supervisors in the United States between July 2020 and February 2026.
Mohd Hafiz was arrested at San Francisco airport, while the other two accused turned themselves in to authorities last month. The trio were charged with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, the DOJ said.
Mohd Hafiz, Mohd Yuzaimi and Nguyen could not be immediately reached for comment.
TM said in a statement that the trio were dismissed from the firm after an internal investigation into suspected misconduct, with the probe findings later shared with relevant authorities.
The company would continue to fully cooperate with the DOJ, it said.
The DOJ said it declined to file charges against TM itself, after the company self-reported the criminal conduct.
Alleged Scheme Involved Fake Deals
Reuters reported in March that the department was rolling out a policy to encourage firms to report criminal misconduct in exchange for reduced penalties and other benefits.
The defendants were accused of diverting millions of dollars from TM into bank accounts they controlled, according to the U.S. indictment.
On one occasion, TM was asked to approve a sale of eight terabytes of capacity to a U.S. multinational for $54 million, when in fact only six terabytes were purchased.
The defendants then allegedly sold the excess capacity to other companies, diverting funds from the illicit sales through a sham entity, the DOJ said.
AI-Assisted Impersonation Allegedly Used
They were also accused of inflating the cost of cable purchases, redirecting nearly $2.9 million in payments to a bank account they controlled, and allegedly claimed reimbursements for fabricated work expenses, it said.
The three also allegedly impersonated employees and interns to capture their salaries, and on one occasion used an AI-assisted imposter to deceive human resources staff, the DOJ said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
