Source: www.usdoj.gov\opa\pr\1999\August\362crm.htm

MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 1999

DEMOCRATIC CONTRIBUTOR SENTENCED TODAY FOR VIOLATING FEDERAL ELECTION LAW

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal court in Los Angeles today sentenced Robert S. Lee to three years of probation and 250 hours of community service for aiding and abetting the making of an illegal foreign campaign contribution to the Democratic National Committee, the Justice Department Campaign Financing Task Force and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles announced.

Lee is one of 19 persons prosecuted by the Campaign Financing Task Force, which was established by Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate allegations of campaign financing abuses in the 1996 election cycle.

In April, Lee, 49, pleaded guilty to violating federal law by giving the DNC a $150,000 check drawn from an account that was entirely funded by a South Korean corporation. In a criminal information, filed three weeks earlier in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the Task Force charged Lee with a misdemeanor violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA). It alleged 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.

The criminal information alleged 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 stated 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 charged, Lee aided and abetted the making of a contribution in violation of the FECA's ban prohibiting foreign contributions to U.S. elections.

In addition to Lee, the Task Force has charged 18 other individuals. On Thursday, August 12, former Lippo Group executive John Huang pleaded guilty to a felony violation of campaign finance laws and was sentenced to one year of probation, 500 hours of community service, a $10,000 fine and directed by the judge to continue cooperating with the investigation as a condition of his probation.

In June 1999, Berek Don, former GOP party leader in Bergen County, NJ, pleaded guilty to making illegal contributions to a Senate candidate's reelection campaign. He is to be sentenced in October 1999. On May 21, 1999, Charlie Trie pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws by making a political contribution in someone else's name and by causing a false statement to be made to the Federal Election Commission. His sentencing is scheduled for November 1, 1999.

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.

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. He was acquitted on June 30, 1999.

On September 30, 1998, Democratic fund-raiser Mark B. Jimenez was indicted in Washington, D.C. on 17 counts of organizing, and making and concealing illegal conduit contributions to a number of Democratic campaigns. In April, the Task Force indicted him in Miami, adding charges of tax evasion and fraud, and is pursuing his extradition from the Philippines.

In June 1999, Yogesh Gandhi pleaded guilty in San Francisco to mail fraud, tax evasion, and violating federal election laws by aiding and abetting the making of a political campaign contribution by a foreign national. He will be sentenced in November 1999. 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. A dismissed portion of the Kanchanalak case is currently on appeal.

Maria Hsia was indicted in February 1998, in Washington D.C. on charges of conspiring to defraud the United States and causing false statements to be submitted to the FEC. Her trial is scheduled for January 2000. The trial had been postponed pending an appeal of a ruling by the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., which had dismissed some of the false statement counts. In May 1999, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. overturned the ruling and reinstated those counts. The task force dismissed a second indictment on tax charges after a jury in San Francisco failed to reach a verdict.

In 1997, the Task Force obtained guilty pleas from Democratic fund-raisers Nora and Gene Lum, and their daughter Trisha, and Michael Brown for illegal fund-raising activities after their cases were referred from Independent Counsel Daniel Pearson.