Mom sentenced to nearly 7 years after embezzlement

NEWARK, N.J. — Rejecting pleas for leniency, a judge Tuesday sentenced a mother of two to nearly seven years in federal prison for embezzling $1.35 million from the accounts of elderly customers while working as an officer at a New Jersey bank.

“You are a bank robber without the typical weapons,” U.S. District Judge William H. Walls told Miye “Karen” Chon, 36, of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., during a hearing Tuesday before imposing sentences for fraud, embezzlement and identity theft totaling 81 months in prison.

Referencing the notorious bank robber Willie Sutton, the judge said Chon stole considerable amounts of money over three years from the bank “because that’s where the money was.”

BankAsiana employed Chon as an assistant vice president and operations officer in Fort Lee, N.J., until Wilshire Bank acquired the bank in October 2013, according to court documents. Chon had access to customer accounts and the bank’s internal account records, computer system and vault.

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She pleaded guilty in March and admitted that she stole more than $1 million from BankAsiana’s customer accounts by regularly making unauthorized transfers from customer certificate of deposit accounts into BankAsiana’s vault cash account and then physically removing cash from the vault. She did this from March 2010 until her employment was terminated in 2013.

Chon typically took tens of thousands of dollars at a time but on one occasion stole $100,000 from a customer’s account, authorities said.

As part of the scheme, Chon also opened up a bank account in her victim's name and forged checks using that individual’s name without permission, authorities said.

Chon’s lawyer, Matthew J. Jeon of Fort Lee, pleaded for leniency, arguing his client kept about $650,000 of the stolen funds and the rest allegedly went to another bank officer who pressured her to take the balance of the stolen money. Chon attempted to cooperate with federal authorities to get evidence on the alleged accomplice but Jeon said he was “too smart to admit anything.".

Walls asked why she resorted to crime, and Jeon said she was trying to repay business debts that she and her husband incurred. They operated two bagel stores that had to close, but she repaid all those businesses' debts, Jeon said.

Jeon asked the judge to consider a sentence of three years.

“I don’t think you need to send a message to Ms. Chon. She will never do this again,” he said. In her remarks to the judge, Chon, speaking through a Korean interpreter, said she was struggling with economic hardship, stress and depression as the family businesses continued to fail.

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“There was no way I could have done such huge amounts of money on my own,” Chon said. “It’s because there was someone else behind me who was watching over me that this was possible. However, I have no proof regarding this matter.”

She apologized for the theft and pleaded for leniency so she would not be separated for too long from her children, ages 3 and 9.

“This is not a one-time slip,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Shapiro said, arguing Chon did not deserve a term below the sentencing guidelines range.

She stole money on about 50 occasions over three years, targeting the accounts of elderly customers in their 80s and 90s, whom she figured would not notice the loss, Shapiro said. But a sharp 96-year-old customer noticed an error in the paperwork and brought it to bank’s attention.

Shapiro said Chon executed “a long-running and complex scheme” — a Ponzi scheme that eventually collapsed, in which she stole from others to replace money taken earlier from customer accounts.

Describing her account of the embezzlement as “evolving,” Shapiro noted this was the first time that she claimed she was forced to steal.

The prosecutor said $530,000 was traced to her bank account, but the rest remains unaccounted for. She has admitted she lied to the FBI and bank auditors, and that should be taken into consideration when evaluating her claim of being forced.

Bank of Hope, the successor bank, is suing both Chon and the man she claims pressured her, James Ryu, in federal court, Jeon said.

For this sentencing Walls said that whether the theft was carried out with the assistance of another didn't matter because Chon abused her position of trust as a bank officer and she should be appropriately punished.

The judge ordered restitution of $1.35 million and allowed Chon to remain free until Jan. 9.

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After the hearing, Jeon said he would file a motion for reconsideration of the sentence.

Ryu, of River Vale, N.J., was a chief operation officer and senior vice president at BankAsiana at the time of the theft. He attended the sentencing and afterward denounced Chon’s allegations against him as “a complete lie.”

He said he had nothing to do with Chon’s embezzlement, but her accusations have turned his life upside down.

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