A woman from the state of Washington pleaded guilty to a fraud scheme in which she impersonated a financial advisor, Wealth Management reported.
53-year-old Jenni Yoon Jeong Lee of Federal Way entered the plea in U.S. District Court in Seattle to three counts of wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud. Prosecutors said she defrauded at least 28 victims of over $3 million, many of whom were elderly and relying on the funds for retirement.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lee orchestrated a scheme that targeted members of the Washington Korean-American community.
Court records indicated Lee created various business entities with names that made it seem they were financial investment companies. She then opened and controlled bank accounts for these shell companies.
“Lee held herself out as a financial advisor employed at the shell companies,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated. “She claimed both orally and in writing that she would place victim investments in funds that would guarantee a safe return, sometimes as high as 10%. She often represented that the principal was fully guaranteed so there was no risk associated with the investment.”
Lee got the victims to write checks to one of the shell companies for ‘investment,’ or induced the client to fund a self-directed IRA at a legitimate financial services company and to then give Lee access to manage the account.
Investigators learned Lee would sometimes provide the financial services company with a promissory note to make it appear the client was loaning money to one of the shell companies. In this way she gained control of the investor funds, and subsequently used them for her personal expenses.
In her statement of facts, Lee said that she had a gambling addiction and used the money for gambling. According to the U.S. Attorney, she took in at least $3 million and paid back some of it to investors in the style of a Ponzi scheme, making the actual loss amount above $1.5 million. Of that, at least $900,000 was spent at casinos.
The three counts of wire fraud are for specific transfers of funds from self-directed IRA accounts. The two counts of bank fraud are for depositing client checks into one of the shell corporation accounts.
The charges are punishable by up to 30 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez scheduled sentencing for September 18
In a separate state action, the Division of Securities entered a final order against Lee in November 2025, finding that she and her company sold unregistered securities, acted as an unregistered broker-dealer and misled investors.
The order requires Lee to stop future violations and includes $50,000 in fines and $30,000 in investigative costs.
Hyman Cotter routinely represents investors harmed when financial professionals and their firms engaged in misconduct that caused their clients investment losses. Our team includes lawyers who have worked for large financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley and UBS Financial Services, and regulatory bodies such as the SEC. 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.
