A Korean-born employee of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was arrested on the 26th of January on suspicion of possessing a false foreign passport, making false statements during a background check, using false documents to purchase a co-op apartment on the Upper East Side, and wire fraud in the purchase of the apartment, and was indicted in federal court in the Eastern District of New York and faces 10 charges.
According to the indictment, Yong Hee Cho (also known as Bryan Cho), 49, worked as an agent in an IRS criminal investigation since 2008. During that Time, Yong Hee Cho conducted an investigation in which he obtained the identity of the subject of the investigation.
After the investigation, Yonghee Cho used the subject’s identification information to obtain fake identification cards, including fake Philippine and Republic of the Marshall Islands identification cards, and a fake passport from the Republic of Guinea Pesos, but with his own photograph, and opened companies overseas in that person’s name.
Yonghee Cho made false statements during the background check, denying that he possessed any foreign identification documents or had any contact with foreign officials, even though he had been contacted by South Korean law enforcement (as South Korea was accusing some government agents of bribing him in exchange for information in an ongoing U.S. criminal investigation).
In addition, Yonghee Cho submitted multiple false documents, including falsified tax returns and bank statements that exaggerated his income and assets, in order to purchase a co-op apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in order to pass the condominium board’s review of his eligibility.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Seth DuCharme said the defendant repeatedly sold his credibility as a federal law enforcement officer and misused information obtained through his public office for personal gain.
Yonghee Cho is charged with forgery of a foreign passport, identity theft, and wire fraud, with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted of the highest charge, wire fraud.
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