Ex-Korean Air manager to serve 41-month sentence for bank fraud

The former manager of the local office of Korean Air will serve 3-1/2 years in federal prison for a money laundering scheme.

Sung Peel Hwang appeared in the U.S. District Court of Guam on Monday morning to be sentenced for a yearslong scheme where Hwang wired Korean Air’s money to his own bank account.

According to court documents, the scheme began in December 2015 when Hwang deposited money that was to be used for a passenger facility charge into his own bank account. Hwang, who was the manager for Korean Air’s Guam office, was responsible for managing the airline’s Bank of Guam account.

To carry out the scheme, which had Hwang deposit over $3.5 million, Hwang used several different methods to make checks appear legitimate, “including lining out the payee and adding his own name, initialing the change and forging his co-signer’s initials, misleading his co-signer’s signature on checks that he made out to himself,” court documents state.

Hwang was sentenced to 41 months, or about 3-1/2 years, in federal prison and was ordered to pay $615,271.51 in restitution.

“Hwang cheated his employer and (the Guam International Airport Authority) out of a substantial sum of money,” United States Attorney Shawn Anderson stated in a press release.

“Fortunately, GIAA’s auditing procedures eventually revealed this scheme. The sentence imposed by the Court is a strong message of accountability and deterrence. I applaud our federal law enforcement partners for their hard work in bringing Hwang to justice,” Anderson added.

FBI special agent in charge Steven Merrill also stated in the release that Hwang’s sentence should “give pause to others who consider engaging in similar conduct.”

Adam Jobes, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation special agent in charge, expressed similar sentiments.

“Mr. Hwang’s greed may have netted him a temporary windfall, but at great cost to those he stole from and to the detriment of his community,” Jobes said. “Today’s sentencing shows that CI is committed to fighting financial crime and making sure fraudsters pay the just for those crimes.”