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We Track International Fraud Impacting South Koreans and Overseas Koreans |
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This website focuses in tracking and reporting on international and cross-border fraudulent schemes that involve or impact upon South Koreans and Overseas Koreans. South Korea emerged from the ashes of the Korean War with a remarkable record of economic growth. By 2005, South Korea had a Gross Domestic Product ("GDP") of US$ 801.2 Billion, using the official exchange rate (or US$ 965.3 Billion, calculated using Purchasing Power Parity, "PPP"). This puts South Korea in the 11th place in the global GDP ranking. The CIA Worldbook notes that "[f]our decades ago, [Korea's] GDP per capita was comparable with levels in the poorer countries of Africa and Asia. In 2004, South Korea joined the trillion dollar club of world economies. Today its GDP per capita [of US$20,400, using PPP] is equal to the lesser economies of the EU." Furthermore, since the turn of the century, large numbers of ethnic Koreans have emigrated out of the Korean Peninsula and settled down in Japan, China, and North and South America, laying the foundations of a potential global economic and financial network as those overseas communities mature economically. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 03 July 2006 )
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KL Financial's Receiver Collects $4.6M out of $213M in Alleged Investor Losses |
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Assets recovered by the KL receiver: In the KL Financial Group scandal, $213 million from investors was lost or stolen. No one has been indicted, and a receiver has so far managed to recover only $4.6 million By Alexandra Clough, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer (PalmBeachPost.com) (May 17, 2006)  KL Financial's Trading Room The Palm Beach Post article stated that "the bait" included "[a] $100,000 conference table; seven 50-inch, high-definition plasma TVs; and a $47,000-a-month office in the Esperante office towerin downtown West Palm Beach.... By the time hedge fund KL Financial Group came crashing down last year amid a swirl of federal scrutiny, $213 million in investor money had been either lost or stolen. It could be the largest investor fraud in Palm Beach County history." "The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year sued KL principals Won Sok Lee and brothers John and Yung Bae Kim, charging them with securities fraud. The civil complaint accuses KL and its principals of misrepresenting the fund's performance and possibly misappropriating money. A federal court froze the defendants' assets and appointed a receiver...." |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 26 May 2006 )
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California Department of Corporation's "Top 10 Scams" for 2006 |
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CALIFORNIA ISSUES "TOP 10 SCAMS" FOR 2006 (News Release 06-05) Sacramento, April 26, 2006 - The state Department of Corporations (DOC) today identified the Top 10 Scams for 2006 that Californians should be aware of to protect themselves from fraud. The release of the information coincides with the California Summit on Financial Literacy being held today at the Sacramento Convention Center.... ...."Financial scams are constantly evolving as thieves try to stay one step ahead of law enforcement," said acting Corporations Commissioner Wayne Strumpfer. "Unfortunately, unsuspecting consumers continue to be victims of con artists looking to take their hard-earned money. The best defense against these scams is to be aware and informed." Californians should always contact DOC before they invest to check the status of the transaction or investment they are considering and the licensing status of the person who is selling it. A toll-free Consumer Resource Center (1-866-ASK-CORP) and language-line service for languages other than English makes the process easy for consumers. Consumers need to be on the alert for the following scams: [ (1) Senior Investment Fraud, (2) Mortgage Fraud, (3) Affinity Fraud, (4) Identity Theft & Phishing, (5) Online Escrow Fraud, (6) Commodities & Foreign Currency, (7) Oil and Gas Scams, (8) Ponzi & Pyramid Schemes, (9) Military Fraud, and (10) Disaster and Charity Scams. ] |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 26 May 2006 )
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Daewoo founder Kim Woo-chong sentenced to 10 years |
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Marketwatch reports that Kim Woo-chong, the former chairman of Daewoo Group (Korea) has been convicted and sentenced by a Korean court: KOREAN COURT CONVICTS DAEWOO FOUNDER KIM WOO-CHONG , by Chris Oliver (May 30, 2006) HONG KONG (MarketWatch) - "A South Korean court Tuesday sentenced Kim Woo-chong, the founder and former chairman of defunct conglomerate Daewoo Group, to 10 years in prison on charges of embezzlement and accounting fraud. The Seoul Central District Court also ordered Kim, 69, to pay back more 21 trillion Korean won ($22 billion), according to Associated Press reports. Kim was charged 11 months ago with accounting fraud, illegal financing and diverting funds out of the country. The court found Kim guilty of 20 trillion won of accounting fraud, 9.8 trillion won of illegal financing and sending 19 trillion won out of the country illegally, AP reported. He was also convicted of embezzling $100 million, according to wire reports. At the time of its downfall four years ago, Daewoo Motor was the biggest corporate failure in South Korean history. Kim had sought refuge abroad in 1999, living most of the time in France, until returning to South Korea to face charges about a year ago." |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 31 May 2006 )
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Lone Star Funds Investigated by Korean Authorities |
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DMagazine (Dallas, Texa) reports about the Korean government's investigation of Lone Star Funds' investment in Korea Exchange Bank: REMEMBER LONE STAR FUNDS?, by Paul Kix (April 19, 2006) "[Remember Lone Start Funds]... [a]nd how the South Korean government investigated it for tax evasion and embezzlement after the Dallas company bought a controlling stake in a Korean bank?.... Lone Star is donating about $104 million to the South Korean government.... The story after the jump comes from yesterday's Wall Street Journal. Moving to quell public outrage over its pending $4.5 billion windfall on the sale of a bank in South Korea, private-equity firm Lone Star Funds offered to donate about $104 million to the government there, as prosecutors stepped up their probe of the partnership. The offer came amid an intensifying backlash against foreign private-equity firms in South Korea, with the announcement yesterday of insider-trading charges against the head of Warburg Pincus LLC's South Korean office , Sung-Jin Hwang, and two Warburg-affiliated holding companies.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 31 May 2006 )
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Abbott Labs Accused of Inflating Prices up to 1,000 Percent |
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Julie Kay, from Daily Business Review (May 19, 2006) The U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami is accusing Illinois-based drugmaker Abbott Laboratories of inflating some pharmaceutical prices 1,000 percent to defraud Medicare and Medicaid of $175 million. According to the complaint, which was unsealed by U.S. District Judge Alan Gold on Wednesday, Abbott inflated prices for some 40 drugs, solutions and injections, including simple sterile water. The drugmaker ratcheted up prices by as much as 10 times, or 1,000 percent. Then the company allegedly sold these drugs to hospitals and doctors for a fraction of the price and billed the federal Medicare program and the state-federal Medicaid program the much higher price. Abbott then collected the difference -- or "spread" -- as pure profit. The alleged scheme allowed Abbott to substantially enhance its market share of certain drugs, such as Vancomycin, a super-antibiotic. In that case, U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta said, Abbott quoted the average price of the drug as $76 and then sold it to hospitals for $4 and billed the government for about $65. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 26 May 2006 )
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C+ Capital Management's Charlie Yi Pleads Guilty |
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MONEY MANAGER AT C+ CAPITAL MANAGEMENT PLEADS GUILTY, ADMITTING HE DEFRAUDED CLIENTS OUT OF OVER $20 MILLION PRESS RELEASE (December 21, 2005) Los Angeles, CA - The owner and operator of the now-defunct downtown investment advisor firm C+ Capital Management, LLC has pleaded guilty to a host of federal charges related to an investment fraud scheme in which he fleeced primarily Korean-American investors out of more than $20 million. Won Charlie Yi, 35, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty late Tuesday to 19 charges. Appearing before United States District Judge A. Howard Matz, Yi pleaded guilty to four counts of bank fraud, 11 counts of mail fraud, two counts of investment advisor fraud and two counts of criminal forfeiture. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 26 May 2006 )
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Judge approves extradition of Kyung Joon Kim, KA man accused of fraud |
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Judge approves extradition of South Korean man accused of fraud (AP), Los Angeles (Oct. 26, 2006) - "A federal judge has approved the extradition of a South Korean man wanted in his home country for an alleged investment fraud that authorities say netted at least $20 million.... U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Abrams said there was sufficient evidence to extradite Kyung Joon Kim. 'At the outset, the sheer number of witnesses who implicate Kim in the criminal offenses makes it improbable that they could all be lying,' Abrams wrote in a ruling dated Friday. It was unclear when Kim, 39, might be extradited.... |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 26 May 2006 )
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Kyung Joon Kim, KA man accused of fraud, detained pending extradition hearing |
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U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Abrams granted the U.S. Government's request to detain Kyung Joon Lee, a Korean-American man accused of fraud and other legal violations in Korea, during the pendency of the extradition hearings. The Judge also denied Mr. Kim's request for bail. The Opinion and Order Re: Request for Detention and Motion for Bail is available here. (Please disable pop-up blockers). (July 1, 2004) In the Matter of Extradition of Kyung Joon Kim (a/k/a Kyungjoon Kim, Kyung June Kim, Christopher Kim, or Chris Kim), U.S. District Court, C.D. Cal. No. CV 04-3886-ABC(PLA)
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Last Updated ( Friday, 26 May 2006 )
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