An Orange County attorney indicted last month for allegedly stealing several million dollars from clients now faces additional wire fraud counts, as well as tax evasion and identity theft charges, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Stephen Young Kang, 46, of Newport Beach, is charged in a 30-count superseding indictment that was returned late Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles.
The indictment charges Kang with 22 counts of wire fraud, three counts each of money laundering and tax evasion and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
The indictment also contains forfeiture allegations that would require Kang to surrender ill-gotten gains if he is convicted of criminal charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The new indictment re-alleges wire fraud and money laundering charges contained in the original indictment, which was filed on Sept. 1 and alleged that Kang defrauded a corporation and a couple seeking to make investments related to applications for EB-5 visas.
The new fraud allegations concern three additional victims — including one who came forward after Kang was initially indicted — who collectively suffered losses of more than $1 million, prosecutors said.
The three additional victims gave money to Kang for investment purposes, but the attorney used the money for his own personal and business expenses, the government alleges.
The superseding indictment further alleges that Kang committed identity theft when he used the names and forged signatures of two individuals without legal authority during and in relation to the alleged fraud scheme. Kang is now also charged with receiving substantial taxable income and willfully attempting to evade paying his taxes in the years 2012 through 2014.
The defendant was arrested by special agents with the FBI and Internal Revenue Service on Aug. 10 at Los Angeles International Airport as he attempted to board a flight to Seoul, Korea. He is currently free on a $750,000 bond.
Kang will be summoned to appear in Los Angeles federal court to be arraigned on the superseding indictment in the near future. At present, he is scheduled to go to trial in the case on Nov. 3.
If convicted of the charges in the indictment, Kang faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each of the wire fraud charges, up to 10 years in prison for each of the money laundering offenses, five years in prison for each of the tax evasion charges, and a mandatory two-year consecutive term of imprisonment for the identity theft charges.
Based on the evidence in the case, investigators believe Kang may have victimized others in locations where he practiced law or resided, including California, Texas, and Seoul, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Anyone who believes they may have been victimized should contact the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office at (310) 477-6565.
— Wire reports