2017-06-21 DOJ SDNY press_release 119 KB 5,632 chars

Middleman Pleads Guilty In Foreign Bribery And Fraud Scheme Involving Potential $800 Million International Real Estate Deal

Caption: United States v. Ban Ki Sang, et al.

summary

Malcolm Harris pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering for impersonating a liaison to a Middle Eastern foreign official and stealing a $500,000 bribe intended to secure an $800 million real estate deal for Hanoi’s Landmark 72 building, spending the funds on luxury personal expenses while his co-conspirators face pending charges or are fugitives.

paragraph

Malcolm Harris pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering for orchestrating a fraudulent scheme to facilitate an $800 million sale of Hanoi’s Landmark 72 building to a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund. He falsely claimed ties to a foreign official and convinced co-conspirators Joo Hyun Bahn and Ban Ki Sang to pay a $500,000 upfront bribe, which he instead embezzled and used for personal luxuries, including a Brooklyn penthouse. Harris faces up to 30 years in prison, while Bahn’s case remains pending and Ban is a fugitive in South Korea.

narrative

Malcolm Harris, a 53-year-old former New Yorker now residing in Mexico, pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering for fabricating a connection to a Middle Eastern foreign official to facilitate an $800 million real estate deal involving Hanoi’s Landmark 72 building. He deceived co-conspirators Joo Hyun Bahn and Ban Ki Sang—senior executives at South Korean firm Keangnam—into believing he could influence the sale by convincing a sovereign wealth fund to purchase the property. In April 2014, Harris convinced them to send a $500,000 upfront bribe, which he never intended to deliver; instead, he pocketed the funds and spent them on luxury personal expenses, including rent for a high-end apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Harris sent fraudulent emails purporting to be from the foreign official to maintain the deception, but had no actual relationship with the official or the fund. The scheme collapsed when Harris’s theft was uncovered, leading to his guilty plea before Judge Edgardo Ramos in June 2017. Bahn’s case remains pending, while Ban is believed to be a fugitive in South Korea. The U.S. Department of Justice, with support from the FBI’s International Corruption Squad and the Office of International Affairs, prosecuted the case, underscoring its transnational scope and complexity.

Enriched metadata

Scheme: fcpa (100%)
Court: Southern District of New York
Outcome: pleaded
Settlement: $2,000,000
Victim loss: $800,000,000

Classified fcpa(confidence 100%). No EDGAR filing fingerprint (criminal/DOJ-side scheme). detection rule →

Extracted insights

Dollar amounts 4

$800.00M $800 Million $100M–$1B
$800.00M $800 million $100M–$1B
$2.00M $2 million $1M–$10M
$500K $500,000 $100K–$1M

Entities 8

person ban ki sang
person bribery scheme
person joo hyun bahn
person Joon H. Kim
company keangnam enterprises co., ltd.
person malcolm harris
person malcolm harris guilty plea
scheme_term wire fraud and money laundering charges

Triples 14

Malcolm Harris pled guilty to Wire Fraud And Money Laundering Charges
Malcolm Harris served as Middleman In Foreign Bribery Scheme
Malcolm Harris pocketed $500,000 Bribe
Joo Hyun Bahn engaged in International Conspiracy To Bribe Foreign Official
Ban Ki Sang was senior executive at Keangnam Enterprises Co., Ltd.
Keangnam Enterprises Co., Ltd. owned Landmark 72 Building In Hanoi, Vietnam
Landmark 72 Sale valued at $800 Million
Bahn And Ban agreed to pay $500,000 Upfront Bribe And $2 Million Upon Close
Malcolm Harris scheduled to be sentenced on September 27, 2017
Joon H. Kim announced Malcolm Harris Guilty Plea
Kenneth A. Blanco announced Malcolm Harris Guilty Plea
Bribery Scheme involved South Korean Company Keangnam And Middle Eastern Country Official
Malcolm Harris sent emails purportedly from Foreign Official-1
Conspiracy occurred from March 2013 Through May 2015

View original DOJ press releasejustice.gov

Extracted body text (5,632c)

Press Release Middleman Pleads Guilty In Foreign Bribery And Fraud Scheme Involving Potential $800 Million International Real Estate Deal Wednesday, June 21, 2017 Share FacebookLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. XLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. LinkedInLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. Email For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York Defendant Double-Crossed His Co-Conspirators and Stole a $500,000 Bribe Intended to Influence a South Korean Company’s Sale of the Landmark 72 Building in Hanoi, Vietnam Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Kenneth A. Blanco, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, announced that MALCOLM HARRIS pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering charges arising from his role as a middleman in a corrupt scheme to pay millions of dollars in bribes to a foreign official (“Foreign Official-1”) of a country in the Middle East (“Country-1”). The bribes were intended to facilitate the sale by South Korean construction company Keangnam Enterprises Co., Ltd. (“Keangnam”) of a 72-story commercial building known as Landmark 72 in Hanoi, Vietnam, to Country-1’s sovereign wealth fund (the “Fund”) for $800 million. Instead of paying an initial $500,000 bribe to Foreign Official-1 as he had promised, HARRIS simply pocketed the money and spent it on himself. HARRIS pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos, who is scheduled to sentence HARRIS on September 27, 2017. Acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said: “As he has now admitted, Malcolm Harris schemed to bribe a foreign official, and then double-crossed even his own co-conspirators, pocketing $500,000 intended as a bribe. Harris then spent that money on his own lavish personal expenses. As the saying goes, there is no honor among thieves, and Harris confirmed that today with his guilty plea.” According to the allegations contained in the Indictment to which HARRIS pled guilty, and statements made during the plea and other court proceedings: From in or about March 2013 through in or about May 2015, HARRIS’s co-defendants Joo Hyun Bahn, a/k/a “Dennis Bahn” (“Bahn”), and his father Ban Ki Sang (“Ban”) engaged in an international conspiracy to bribe Foreign Official-1 in connection with the attempted $800 million sale of a building complex in Hanoi, Vietnam, known as Landmark 72. During this time, Ban was a senior executive at Keangnam, a South Korean construction company that built and owned Landmark 72. Ban convinced Keangnam to hire his son Bahn, who worked as a broker at a commercial real estate firm in Manhattan, to secure an investor for Landmark 72. Instead of obtaining financing through legitimate channels, Bahn and Ban engaged in a corrupt scheme to pay bribes to Foreign Official-1, through HARRIS, who held himself out as an agent of Foreign Official-1, to induce Foreign Official-1 to use his influence to convince the Fund to acquire Landmark 72 for approximately $800 million. In furtherance of the scheme, HARRIS sent Bahn numerous emails purportedly sent by Foreign Official-1 and bearing Foreign Official-1’s name. In or about April 2014, following communications with HARRIS, Bahn and Ban agreed to pay, through HARRIS, a $500,000 upfront bribe and a $2 million bribe upon the close of the sale of Landmark 72 to Foreign Official-1 on behalf of Keangnam. Unbeknownst to Bahn or Ban, however, HARRIS did not have the claimed relationship with Foreign Official-1 and did not intend to pay the bribe money to Foreign Official-1. Instead, HARRIS simply stole the $500,000 upfront bribe arranged by Bahn and Ban, which HARRIS then spent on lavish personal expenses, including rent for a luxury penthouse apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. * * * HARRIS, 53, of San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and formerly of New York, New York, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conducting monetary transactions in illicit funds, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge. The case against Bahn is pending before Judge Ramos, and Ban is a fugitive believed to be residing in South Korea. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until convicted beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Mr. Kim praised the outstanding investigative work of the International Corruption Squad of the FBI’s New York Field Office. Mr. Kim also thanked the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs for its ongoing assistance in this investigation. The case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant United States Attorney Daniel S. Noble and Trial Attorney Dennis R. Kihm of the Fraud Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division are in charge of the prosecution. Updated June 21, 2017 Topic Financial Fraud Component USAO - New York, Southern Press Release Number: 17-183

OCR text (5,632c · plain-text · 99% conf)