Assaggio restaurants owner Thomas Ky told a federal judge Wednesday that his conviction for money laundering has taught him a hard and valuable lesson that will make him a better businessman.
"Helping people is good but I need to watch who I help," Ky said.
U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson sentenced Ky to six months in jail for helping the operators and agents of an illegal gambling operation by laundering more than $1.3 million of gambling proceeds through his restaurants. Watson also fined Ky $50,000 and finalized an order requiring him to forfeit to the government $1,336,500, an amount equal to how much money he laundered.
Defense lawyer Stephen Pingree said Ky paid off the personal money judgment in full in February.
Watson rejected Pingree’s claim that the money laundering was a one-time offense. Watson said Ky laundered the money in $4,000 increments from January 2009 to July 2012. He said Ky then used his cut of the money for payroll and to pay a contractor for renovation work.
Pingree asked Watson to give Ky four to five months to turn himself in to begin serving his sentence. He said that although all six of the Assaggio restaurants on Oahu remain open, the lease for the Ala Moana Center restaurant expires in December.
He said that if Ky is not able to negotiate a new lease, the restaurant may have to close.
Watson gave Ky until June 20 to turn himself in. He said Ky will probably serve his time at the Federal Detention Center here, where he will be able to continue running his businesses.
Ky, 47, pleaded guilty in November to one count of money laundering in connection with an operation that enabled gamblers to place wagers online through several websites based in Costa Rica. The operators and agents in Honolulu collected lost wagers and paid off winnings.
The operators, Felix Tom and Allen Yamada, are scheduled for sentencing later this month.
To date, 28 people have pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the operation. The last one, East Oahu Realtor Judith Jakobovits, pleaded guilty Monday to laundering $200,000 for Yamada in a sting operation.
So far 23 of the 28 defendants have been sentenced. Ky is only the second person to receive a jail term. The first, Jason Chang, was sentenced last month to one month in jail for laundering $83,466.
