Ban Ki Sang, a citizen of South Korea, was a senior executive at Keangnam Enterprises Co., Ltd., a South Korean construction company.
Joo Hyun Bahn, a citizen of South Korea and a resident of the United States, worked at two commercial real estate brokage firms in New York. Bahn was also Ban's son.
Malcolm Harris, a citizen of the United States, was a self-described arts and fashion consultant and blogger.
Andrew Simon was a citizen of the United States.
Sang Woo worked at a commercial brokerage firm in New York.
According to the charging documents, in about 2012, Keangnam completed construction of a building complex in Hanoi, Vietnam called the Keangnam Hanoi Landmark Tower that consisted of a 72-story commercial office building and two 48-story residential towers. The constuction of the complex cost more than $1 billion, which Keangnam financed, in part, through loans issued by South Korean banks. By about March 2013, Keangnam was facing a severe liquidity crisis, and in order to service its debts, Keangnam was seeking to refinance the loans on the complex or to sell the building outright to an investor for approximately $800 million. Ban hired his son, Bahn, to help broker a possible refinancing deal, and shortly thereafter, Bahn was introduced to Harris, who claimed he could assist in the sale of the complex through his connections to members of the royal family in an unnamed Middle Eastern country. Beginning in September 2013, Ban and Bahn attempted to pay bribes through Harris to government officials of the unnamed country to which Harris purported to have connections. Ban and Bahn agreed to pay a total of $2.5 million to Harris, who would then use the money to pay the bribes to the officials. Ban and Bahn made an initial payment of $500,000, which Harris stole for himself. The remaining $2 million was not paid. Simon and Woo were also alleged to be involved in the conspiracy to pay the foreign official.
On December 15, 2016, the DOJ filed a sealed indictment in the Southern District of New York against Ban, Bahn, and Harris alleging conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA; direct and aiding and abetting violations of the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA; direct and aiding and abetting wire fraud; conspiracy, direct, and aiding and abetting money laundering; and aggravated identity theft. Woo was added in a sealed complaint filed on January 10, 2017, and Simon was added in a sealed complaint filed on October 17, 2017.
Harris pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of conducting monetary transactions in illicit funds on June 21, 2017, and Bahn pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA on January 5, 2018. On September 6, 2018, the court ordered Bahn to pay restitution of $500,000, jointly and severally with Harris, Simon, and Woo, and entered a preliminary forfeiture order against Bahn for $250,000, and on November 2, 2018, the court sentenced Bahn to serve 6 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. In addition to the forfeiture and restitution, the court ordered Bahn to pay a mandatory assessment of $100.
On June 23, 2017, a consent to preliminary order of forfeiture was filed against Harris for the amount of $500,000. On October 6, 2017, the court ordered Harris to pay restitution of $760,148.57 to the victims, jointly and severally with Bahn, Simon, and Woo. On October 13, 2017, the court sentenced Harris to 42 months in prison prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Harris was additionally ordered to pay a $200 mandatory assessment.
On March 30, 2018, the DOJ filed a single count superseding Information against Simon alleging conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. Though Simon apparently pled not guilty on the same date as the filing of the information, it appears that since then he has changed his plea. On February 25, 2019, the court ordered Simon to pay $500,000 in restitution, jointly and severally with Harris, Bahn, and Woo, and on June 14, 2019, the court sentenced Simon to time served in prison and 1 year of probation. The court further ordered him to pay a mandatory assessment of $100.
On May 10, 2019, the DOJ filed a sealed two count superseding Information against Woo alleging conspiracy to violated the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA as well as direct and aiding and abetting violations of the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. Woo pled guilty the same day. The information was unsealed on January 30, 2019. On March 7, 2019, the court ordered Woo to pay $500,000 in restitution, jointly and severally with Harris, Bahn, and Simon. On May 7, 2019, the court sentenced Woo to time served in prison plus 2 years of supervised release. In addition to the previously ordered restitution, the court ordered Woo to pay a mandatory assessment of $200.
Ban appears to remain a fugitive.
