SEATTLE (AP) - Federal prosecutors have charged the former head of a Bellevue wealth management firm accused of running a Ponzi scheme with wire fraud and making false statements to the United States.
Seattlepi.com reports (https://goo.gl/6lp8Ek ) charges against Summit Asset Strategies CEO Chris Young Yoo were unsealed Monday.
Yoo’s attorney Michelle Peterson says her client will be pleading guilty as part of a plea deal.
The charges are related to claims that he misled his firm’s clients while using new investments to cover old losses and enrich himself.
Yoo previously reached a $1 million civil settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission related to the fraud, which began in 2006 and ended with Yoo’s clients losing about $3.5 million.
The fraud was discovered in 2015. Yoo filed for bankruptcy in January 2016. That matter remains in litigation.
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Information from: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, https://www.seattlepi.com/
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