A former broker in Virginia was found guilty on fraud charges for what authorities said a scheme targeting investors in his own Korean-American communtiy, Financial Advisor reported.
A federal jury convicted 52-year-old Jihoon Park of three counts of wire fraud and two counts of bankruptcy fraud in connection with the theft of over $2.5 million from investors.
Prosecutors said Park was with MML Investment Services until the end of 2022 but continued to misrepresent his MML affiliation for over a year and a half after he left.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Park convinced people in his community to let him invest their money and grow their assets. He used his personal relationships and his former MML registration to gain victims’ trust and convince them to give him money to invest on their behalf. One client gave him $300,000 to invest but said he would not have done so had he known Park was no longer with MML.
According to the Justice Department, Park promised safe investments with high returns, but instead transferred over $2.5 million from the multiple victims to himself. Among other things, he used the stolen money to buy a house and cryptocurrency for himself.
“Jihoon Park claimed he would invest his community members’ life savings, retirement, and money and promised a high-yield return. Instead, he stole the millions of dollars entrusted to him to enrich himself,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Unsuspecting families and individuals suffered devastating financial crises because of Park’s crimes.”
Among the victims of the wire fraud was a 60-year-old Virginia woman who invested about $1.66 million with Park after receiving a settlement.
When one of the victims sued him, Park transferred assets to his wife and concealed millions of dollars in cryptocurrency assets before filing for bankruptcy, authorities said. He falsely claimed he had only $0.34 in financial assets and no cryptocurrency to avoid paying his victim creditors any money back from his fraud.
The victim who filed the suit also contended MML was liable for Park’s conduct as his principal. MML is also suing Park to hold him liable for any judgment against the firm through indemnification claims.
Park faces a maximum sentence of 20 years on the wire fraud counts and five years on the bankruptcy fraud counts when he is sentenced Dec. 10. He was permanently barred by FINRA in October 2025.
The attorneys at Hyman Cotter have decades of experience dealing with securities fraud cases and have a deep understanding of how capital markets and financial service firms are intended to work to protect investors. If you think your financial professional or firm engaged in misconduct that caused you investment losses, contact Hyman Cotter at (833) 665-0784 or through our online contact form for a no-cost evaluation of your matter.
