Fugitive In Bank Fraud Scheme Apprehended

Baltimore, Maryland – Loren Park, a/k/a “Loren Yong Park,” age 50, formerly of Falls Church, Virginia was arrested on February 22, 2018 in South Korea and extradited to Maryland to face charges relating to bank fraud.

In 2011, a federal grand jury indicted Park and his brother Yong Park, of Falls Church, Virginia and Nick Park, of McLean, Virginia on charges of conspiring to commit bank fraud in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain business loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration, with resulting losses of over $100 million.

The arrest was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation;  U.S. Marshal for the District of Maryland Johnny Hughes; and Small Business Administration Acting Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware.

According to the 2011 superseding indictment, the Park brothers owned Jade Capital & Investments, LLC. Jade Capital was a loan brokerage company operated by Joon and Loren Park and specializing in securing loans for individuals interested in purchasing or refinancing small businesses in the Mid-Atlantic area. According to the 2011 indictment, Joon, Loren and Nick Park encouraged prospective borrowers using the services of Jade Capital to apply for business loans through the SBA’s Section 7(a) program, which guaranteed 75% - 90% of qualified loans made by banks and other commercial lending institutions. Under this program, the principals of the small business seeking the loan were required to invest a certain amount of their own money, called an equity injection, before they qualified for a loan. The banks and other lending institutions making the loan bore the risk of payment default only up to the percentage of the loan not guaranteed by the SBA.

The indictment alleges that from February 2005 until October 2011, Joon, Loren, and Nick Park submitted SBA loan applications and supporting documentation to loan originators and underwriters on behalf of their clients. The indictment alleges that the packages contained fraudulent personal financial statements and/or monthly bank statements which overstated the net worth and equity injection of the borrowers and falsely enhanced the creditworthiness of the borrowers and their businesses.

The indictment alleges that Joon and Loren Park altered copies of the borrowers’ monthly bank statements to fraudulently reflect more money than was actually in the accounts; created false bank statements for accounts that did not exist; and provided some of the financial institutions with misleading summaries of the borrowers’ business experience in order to falsely enhance the borrowers’ ability to manage the business and make the required loan payment.

The indictment further alleges that Joon, Loren and Nick Park and Jade Capital supplied some financial institutions with fraudulent gift letters falsely representing the source of the borrowers’ down payments and equity injections. Also according to the indictment, Joon Park, Loren Park and Jade Capital submitted financial documentation to lenders that misrepresented the equity injection of the principal owners of 51 businesses that had applied for SBA-guaranteed loans. In addition, the defendants charged a loan brokerage fee to both the financial institutions and the borrowers for assembling and submitting loan application packages that resulted in the issuance of SBA-guaranteed loans.

The indictment alleges that Joon Park submitted fraudulent documentation, including a personal financial statement and monthly bank statements in connection with an SBA loan application for a car wash business in which he was the principal owner.

Parks co-conspirators all pleaded guilty and were sentenced to the following:

Joon Park was sentenced to 188 months in prison; Nick Park was sentenced to 33 months in prison; Joo Hyuk “John” Lee was sentenced to three years in prison; Sang Hyun Kim was sentenced to three years in prison; In Jung Ham was sentenced to a year and a day in prison; and Seung E. Oh, a/k/a Sandy Oh was sentenced to 51 months in prison.

Park faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for the conspiracy.  Park remains detained.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt.  An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.

Acting United States Attorney Stephen M. Schenning commended the FBI, U.S. Marshals and SBA for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Schenning thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marty Clarke and Leo Wise, who are prosecuting the case.

Former Norwood Man Sentenced for Coercing a Minor for Sex While on Home Monitoring

CINCINNATI – Cody Lee Jackson, 22, formerly of Norwood, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 165 months in prison for coercion and enticement of a minor.

Jackson lured a minor to his apartment to have sex with Jackson while he was on home monitoring after pleading guilty to a crime in Hamilton County Common Pleas court.                                                                                             

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Division, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joseph T. Deters, Blue Ash Police Chief Scott Noel and Norwood Police Chief William Kramer announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett.

According to court documents, Jackson was under local supervision in Hamilton County in February 2015. While under supervision, he met the minor victim through social media and eventually persuaded her to come to his apartment.

Jackson would send a taxi to transport the victim, who was 14 years old at the time, to his apartment. He would engage in sexual activity on each visit, and took videos and photographs of the conduct.

Shortly after meeting the victim, he began to change her passwords to her social media accounts and give her instructions on what she could and could not do. If she broke his rules, he would verbally and physically abuse her.

Eventually, the minor became pregnant by Jackson.

In July 2015, Jackson left Ohio but began to contact the victim again on social media. He told the victim to send him sexually explicit pictures and threatened her family if she failed to comply.

Jackson was arrested in Utah in October 2015 after a federal complaint was filed in Cincinnati. He has been in custody since his arrest.

Following his arrest on federal charges, Jackson contacted the victim using other inmate’s calling numbers and threatened to take away the victim’s child and sue her. He also threatened to take the victim’s father’s home and car.

Jackson pleaded guilty to coercion and enticement of a minor in May 2017. As a part of that plea, parties agreed that Jackson’s federal prison sentence would run concurrent with sentences imposed in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas.

He was also sentenced to a lifetime of supervised release.

“Jackson has used young girls for his own purposes, punishing his victims if they don’t do as he instructs,” U.S. Attorney Glassman said. “This illicit sexual conduct, paired with a seemingly complete disregard for the law, calls for the sentence he received today.”

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation by the FBI and Blue Ash Police Department, Norwood Police Department and coordination with the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Christy L. Muncy, who is representing the United States in this case.

Baltimore Man Convicted Of Armed Bank Robbery

Baltimore, Maryland – On February 26, 2018, a federal jury convicted Timothy Allen McNeal, age 31, of Baltimore, Maryland, on charges of armed robbery, conspiracy, and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.

The verdict was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Stephen M. Schenning; Special Agent in Charge Gordon B. Johnson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Daniel L. Board, Jr. of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Baltimore Division; and Chief Gary L. Gardner of the Howard County Police.

According to evidence presented at trial, on August 4, 2016, McNeal and his brother, Markus Fields, age 28, of Baltimore, robbed the Howard County Education Federal Credit Union (HCEFCU) in Ellicott City, Maryland at gun point. Surveillance video captured the robbery, during which both Fields and McNeal entered the credit union wearing ski masks to cover their faces. Fields entered first carrying a black backpack. McNeal entered after, carrying a rifle-style long gun with a large magazine visible on the top.  McNeal pointed the gun at a bank teller and a customer, while Fields walked to another room. McNeal forced the victims to the ground at gunpoint and moved behind the counter. Fields opened the teller drawer and began rifling through it.  McNeal, after closing the bank door, walked back to a supervisor’s office down a short hallway.

McNeal pointed the gun toward the supervisor’s office, forcing the employee to exit the office and, ultimately, open the safe in the lobby. After opening the safe, she was ordered to the ground where she remained while the Fields and McNeal removed cash from the safe.

McNeal then reached into the backpack Fields was carrying, removed zip ties, and zip tied the supervisor and customer. Fields used the zip ties to restrain the teller’s hands behind her back. McNeal and Fields then left the HCEFCU by climbing out of a window.

McNeal, Fields and their mother, an employee of the Howard County School District, were all account holders at the HCEFCU. On August 4, 2016, a few hours after the robbery, McNeal and Fields went to Wal-Mart and purchased two large televisions, paying over $350 in cash for each. On August 6, 2016, two days after the robbery, Fields purchased a maroon Lexus and paid $4,620 in cash. On August 8, 2016, McNeal posted a photograph of a maroon Lexus with the caption “we working.” On August 17, 2016, over $2,600 in overdue rent was paid on Fields and McNeal’s residence. 

During execution of a search warrant, law enforcement recovered black ski masks, clothing matching the clothing worn by McNeal during the bank robbery, banded cash, and cell phones from Fields and McNeal’s residence

Co-defendant Fields pleaded guilty to Armed Bank Robbery on February 9, 2018 and is scheduled for sentencing on May 8, 2018. Judge Catherine C. Blake has set sentencing for May 30, 2018 for McNeal.

Acting United States Attorney Stephen M. Schenning commended the FBI, ATF, Howard County Police and the Howard County State’s Attorney’s office for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Schenning thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Perry and Burden Walker who prosecuted the case.