Two Korean-Americans each accused of investment fraud and business-related bribery have been sentenced to prison.
A federal judge sentenced 58-year-old Joon Woo Kim of Montebello to two years and nine months in prison for his role in a scheme that defrauded investors out of $4.7 million, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced Wednesday.
According to federal prosecutors, Kim solicited investors from June 2015 through March 2022 while managing the assets of the M5 Doctors Fund and diverted the funds to his private business.
At the time, Kim solicited investors by promising to invest M5 Doctors Fund assets in Tesla and other electric vehicle companies, but instead wired approximately $4.7 million to a food wholesaler owned by him and his wife. Kim also applied for a $3.2 million business loan and a $1.3 million credit line from Hanmi Bank.
On March 4, Kim pleaded guilty to two counts of investment fraud.
A federal court sentenced 49-year-old Hyuong Nam So, also known as Brian So, of Irvine, to two years in prison and fined him $250,000 for accepting $5 million in bribes from a South Korean parts supplier while working for General Motors (GM), the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced on Wednesday.
According to federal prosecutors, So worked as a GM manager in Detroit, Michigan in 2015. At the time, he allegedly accepted large bribes to secure a $100 million supply contract with a South Korean supplier, Wookyung MIT.
Earlier, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) seized $3.19 million in bribes from So’s safe box in Los Altos, Santa Clara County, in 2017.
BY HYOUNGJAE KIM, HOONSIK WOO [kim.ian@koreadaily.com]
