Hyong Kwon Kim, Tax Evasion, Connecticut 2023

Hyong Kwon Kim, a Greenwich, Connecticut, man, was sentenced to six months in prison for failing to report over $28 million in funds he maintained in Swiss bank accounts to the Department of Treasury.

According to documents and other information provided in court, Hyong Kwon Kim, a citizen of South Korea and, since 1998, a legal permanent resident of the United States, resided in Massachusetts and later in Connecticut. Kim, a sophisticated business executive who ran family businesses with operations in the United States and internationally, inherited tens of millions of dollars that he stashed in secret accounts at Credit Suisse, its subsidiaries, and another Swiss bank.

Kim deliberately violated the U.S. bank secrecy laws by failing to report his foreign financial accounts to the Treasury Department. U.S. citizens, resident aliens, and permanent legal residents with a foreign financial interest in or signatory authority over a foreign financial account worth more than $10,000 are required to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, commonly known as an FBAR, disclosing the account.

Kim conspired with a host of foreign enablers, including Dr. Edgar H. Paltzer, his Swiss attorney who pleaded guilty in 2013 in the Southern District of New York, and bankers to conceal his assets and income in Swiss accounts held in his own name, the name of a relative, and in the names of sham corporate entities.

In addition to his term of incarceration, U.S. District Court Judge Brinkema ordered Kim to pay a fine of $100,000 and $243,542 in restitution to the IRS. Kim, in accordance with his plea agreement, also paid a civil penalty of over $14 million dollars to the U.S. Treasury for his willful failure to file, and willfully filing false, FBARs.

Hyong Kwon Kim was also required to file false income tax returns for 1999 through 2010 with the IRS, failing to report investment income and failing to disclose the earnings from his holdings in the offshore accounts.

Kim, a citizen of South Korea and, since 1998, a legal permanent resident of the United States, was sentenced on an unspecified date in 2023. He was ordered to serve six months in prison and pay a fine of $100,000 and $243,542 in restitution to the IRS. He also paid a civil penalty of over $14 million dollars to the U.S. Treasury for his willful failure to file, and willfully filing false, FBARs. The case was investigated by special agents of IRS CI, and prosecuted by the Tax Division and the Eastern District of Virginia.