Four days before he abruptly left Hawaii for South Korea, former Bank of America Vice President Michael Ho Kim admitted to bank officials that he stole money from customers to pay off his gambling debts, according to bank records.
Kim, 48, is in custody at the Federal Detention Center in a wire fraud case unrelated to the thefts he allegedly admitted to bank officials. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment last month and is scheduled to stand trial in September.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry M. Kurren on Aug. 4 ordered Kim to remain in custody without the opportunity for release pending his trial.
The court’s pretrial services had recommended Kim be released on an unsecured signature bond.
In response, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Sorenson told Kurren that Kim has already fled to avoid prosecution once and was likely to do so again. He said Kim fled the country while he was under investigation by his employer and had knowledge that a criminal investigation was also likely coming. Sorenson said the FBI started its investigation within a few weeks of the bank’s investigation.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Salina Althof told Kurren that Kim did not go to Korea to flee criminal prosecution because no one from law enforcement had questioned Kim or told him not to leave the country before he went.
According to an indictment returned in December and unsealed after Kim’s arrest last month, Kim left Hawaii for Korea on an international flight on Dec. 27, 2010.
The FBI says Korean officials arrested Kim on July 22 for being in the country illegally and then turned him over to U.S. authorities.
Americans need a Korean visa for visits of 90 days or longer. South Korean officials had not issued Kim a visa for 2010 or later, according to a copy of Kim’s passport that Sorenson provided to Kurren.
Sorenson also provided Kurren with a two-page, handwritten confession on Bank of America Investigative Services stationery that Kim allegedly signed on Dec. 23, 2010. The confession says Kim took $293,000 from three separate clients, deposited the money in their escrow accounts and then withdrew the money to pay his debts. The confession says Kim got a loan to pay back the money and that he repaid $73,000 to one client and was going to pay back the other clients on the following Monday, Dec. 27.
The confession says, “I know that what I did was wrong. I have a problem in gambling and I will seek help in order to overcome my sickness. I sincerely apologize for my mistakes and will work towards getting better and making sure that I don’t put myself in same predicament.”
Sorenson said Kim embezzled up to $1 million of bank funds and victimized many upstanding members of Hawaii’s Korean community.
According to the wire fraud indictment, Kim used his job as a mortgage loan officer to lure prospective BOA customers into a Ponzi scheme, promising them high rates of returns for short-term investments. The indictment identifies one victim who gave Kim $300,000 on a promised return of $345,000 but got back just $15,000 that Kim paid to “buy time.”
That victim sued Kim in 2012 and said in her lawsuit that she actually gave Kim $420,000 in three increments in September and October 2010. She said she was supposed to give him an additional $300,000 in January 2011, but when she went to look for him, bank officials told her Kim was fired for borrowing a large sum of money from a client without paying him back, then fled to Korea.
Four other people sued Kim in state court in 2011 and 2012.
A husband and wife said in their lawsuit they gave Kim $75,000 in November 2010 and he repaid them $80,000 three days later. They said they later gave Kim another $75,000 but got nothing in return. They said a Bank of America official called them Dec. 28 to tell them that Kim was no longer employed there.
A woman said she gave Kim $15,000 in April 2010 and that he repaid her $18,000 the following month. She said in her lawsuit that she later gave Kim an additional $65,000 in increments, to invest and re-invest, but never got anything back. She said Kim’s assistant at Bank of America told her Kim was fired Dec. 24 and that nobody knew where he was.
Another woman said Kim persuaded her to fork over $60,000 in November 2010 for what was supposed to be a short-term loan and instructed her to write the check to somebody else. When Kim failed to pay her back with interest on the promised due date, the woman said she learned Kim had fled the country. And she said the person who cashed the check refused to refund her money.
All of the lawsuits against Kim were dismissed because none of the plaintiffs could locate him.
