A California lawyer has been federally indicted on 25 counts, accused of misappropriating a total of nearly $6 million from three clients in South Korea.
Stephen Young Kang, 46, was arrested by federal agents last month as he tried to board a flight to South Korea at Los Angeles International Airport and subsequently freed on $750,000 secured bond. He was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury and faces 20 wire-fraud counts and five counts of money laundering, according to OC Weekly’s KABC and the Navel Gazing blog.
One of the three clients, a company that distributes Korean food products in the U.S., provided Kang with $3.7 million to purchase California real estate near an existing distribution center, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles says. Instead, he allegedly used the money for other purposes.
Two other clients, who are married, gave him $1 million to invest in a U.S. business in an effort to qualify for U.S. visas, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reports. Again, the money was not used as intended by the clients, the government says.
It appears that the South Texas College of Law graduate is also licensed to practice in Texas. He reportedly has no attorney disciplinary history.