Woman Pleads Guilty In Irvine Ponzi Scheme
Published 02/08/2011 - 10:44 a.m. PDT
(CNS) Posted Tuesday February 8, 2011 – 9:46am
The 40-year-old bookkeeper for an Irvine investment firm pleaded guilty Monday for her part in a Ponzi scheme
that caused at least 60 people to lose more than $6 million.
Sang Yi pleaded guilty today to federal wire fraud charges, admitting she helped co-defendant Euirang "Chris"
Hwang, 37, take $6,013,198 from the 60 victims, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally said.
Hwang pleaded guilty to wire fraud Dec. 7. Both lived in the Harbor City area of Los Angeles and were a couple.
Hwang, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was the founder and chairman of Irvine investment company, Pinupito Inc.
Yi, a South Korea citizen, was the company's president and secretary.
The two promised high annual returns with phony claims that Pinupito was a successful company that made
money by buying smaller companies in Korea, nurturing them and then selling them for substantial profits.
"They represented that Hwang was a billionaire and created successful companies," McNally said.
Unlike many Ponzi schemes, the two did not use the money to finance a lavish lifestyle, but instead put the
money into Pinupito, but were unable to provide the promised profits to their investors, McNally said.
In all, they collected $8,422,293 from the investors, McNally said.
The two targeted Korean-American investors, McNally said.
Many victims were retirees and some were younger people investing the retirement income for their parents,
McNally said.
"People thought they were dealing with someone who was a reputable financial expert in the community,"
McNally said.
In their plea agreements, the two agreed to try to make $6,013,198 in restitution, McNally said.
"We'll certainly pursue restitution as we always do and look at their assets, but the money they took in for the
most part has been depleted," McNally said.
Hwang is scheduled to be sentenced April 4 and Yi is scheduled to be sentenced June 6.
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