N.Y. Charges Korean-American Group’s Head With $780,000 Theft
May 14, 2014 | Read Time: 1 minute
The leader of a New York City nonprofit serving Korean-Americans was charged Tuesday with defrauding elderly members of the city’s Korean community of hundreds of thousands of dollars through a housing-benefit scam, writes the Associated Press.
Korean Social Service Center President Ock Chul Ha, 37, of Fort Lee, N.J., pleaded not guilty to two grand larceny charges.
According to a complaint filed by New York’s attorney general, Mr. Ha conducted a Ponzi-style scheme for three years, fraudulently collecting $780,000 from dozens of clients whom he promised places in New York’s 421(a) housing tax-exemption program and paying back former victims with money from newer ones.
