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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FILES CHARGES AGAINST
DEMOCRATIC CONTRIBUTOR FOR VIOLATING ELECTION LAWWASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department Campaign Financing Task Force and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles today charged Robert S. Lee with violating federal election law by giving the Democratic National Committee a $150,000 check drawn from an account that was entirely funded by a South Korean corporation. He is the sixteenth individual to be charged by the Task Force.
In a criminal information, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the Task Force charged Lee, 49, with a misdemeanor violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). It alleges that Lee aided and abetted the making of a prohibited campaign contribution by foreign nationals, in violation of 2 U.S.C. §§ 441e and 437g(d) and 18 U.S.C. § 2.
If convicted, Lee could be sentenced up to one year in prison, fined $25,000 or three times the amount of the contribution, or both.
The criminal information alleges that Lee was an advisor and consultant to K&L International Partners, Inc., a California corporation. K&L, according to the filing, was a fledgling development company that had bid on a project in Inglewood, California. K&L, which generated no revenues in the U.S., received all of its operating funds from foreign sources, including Il Sung Construction Company, a South Korean corporation with offices in Seoul. K&L retained Il Sung to perform the actual construction on the Inglewood project.
The criminal information states that on or about May 8, 1996, Lee knowingly and willfully provided the DNC with a $150,000 check drawn on a K&L bank account which had been entirely funded by transfers from Il Sung. In doing so, the information charges, Lee aided and abetted the making of a contribution in violation of the FECA's ban prohibiting foreign contributions to U.S. elections.
Lee is scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on April 26, 1999.
Lee is the sixteenth person charged by the Task Force, which was established to investigate allegations of campaign financing abuses in the 1996 election cycle. On March 23, 1999, Juan C. Ortiz, the Chief Financial Officer of Future Tech International, Inc., was sentenced to two years probation, $20,000 in fines, and 200 hours in community service for acting as a conduit for an illegal campaign contribution and participating in the reimbursement of eight other conduit contributions.
P> On December 14, 1998, Johnny Chung was sentenced to probation and 3,000 hours of community service for bank fraud, tax evasion and two misdemeanor counts of conspiring to violate election law. On November 24, 1998, Howard Glicken, a fund-raiser for the Democratic party, was sentenced to 18 months probation, an $80,000 fine, and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service for violating campaign finance laws. On November 4, 1998, Franklin Haney was indicted on more than 40 counts of conspiring with another to defraud the United States by impairing and impeding the FEC and conspiring to violate specific provisions of federal election law. His case is scheduled for trial on June 21, 1999. On September 30, 1998, Democratic fund-raiser Mark B. Jimenez was indicted on 17 counts of organizing, and making and concealing illegal conduit contributions to a number of Democratic campaigns. P> On August 5, 1998, the Task Force indicted Yogesh Gandhi on mail fraud charges in San Francisco. A superseding 12-count information filed on March 8, 1999, charged him with mail and wire fraud, tax evasion, failure to file a tax return and perjury. On July 13, 1998, DNC fund-raiser Pauline Kanchanalak and her business associate Duangnet "Georgie" Kronenberg were charged with conspiring to impair and impede the FEC, and causing the submission of false statements to the FEC. Trial is scheduled for November 1999. Maria Hsia was indicted in Los Angeles on July 7, 1998 on four tax counts. The case is scheduled for trial in May 1999. On February 18, 1998, Hsia was also indicted in D.C. on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States and causing false statements to be submitted to the FEC. On January 29, 1998, Charlie Trie and Antonio Pan were indicted in Washington, D.C. on 15 charges, including obstruction of justice and various crimes relating to campaign financing. Trials in the Hsia and Trie D.C. cases have been postponed pending an appeal of the dismissal of some of the counts in the indictments. Trie was also indicted on November 9, 1998, in Arkansas for obstruction of justice. Trial is scheduled for May 1999. P> In 1997, the Task Force obtained guilty pleas from Democratic fund-raisers Nora and Gene Lum, their daughter Trisha, and Michael Brown for illegal fund-raising activities after their cases were referred from Independent Counsel Daniel Pearson. P> The charges made by the government are merely accusations. All criminal defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.# # #
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