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December 23, 2021

Former IRS Special Agent Sentenced for Wire Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft

On October 12, 2021, in the Eastern District of New York, former Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation (CI) Special Agent Bryan Cho was sentenced for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Cho pleaded guilty to the charges in June 2021 and forfeited $394,374.63.

According to the court documents, in or around 2018, law enforcement agents in South Korea learned that public officials who worked at South Korea’s National Intelligence Service and National Tax Service paid Cho bribes in exchange for information Cho obtained through his employment with IRS-CI. In 2018, while Cho was visiting Asia for personal reasons, law enforcement agents from South Korea contacted Cho and sought to question him about his knowledge of and participation in the alleged bribery scheme.

During the course of his employment, Cho worked on an investigation through which he obtained identifying information for an individual described as “John Doe.” The investigation was eventually closed, but Cho retained items he obtained during the investigation and used John Doe’s identifying information to create false identification documents and open a corporate entity overseas in John Doe’s name. The fraudulent documents included purported identification cards for the Philippines and the Republic of the Marshall Islands in the name of John Doe, but bearing photos of Cho, and a purported passport in the name of John Doe for the Republic of Guinea-Bissau.

Cho later made false statements during a background investigation, including denying that he possessed any foreign identification documents. Cho also denied any contact with foreign officials, even though law enforcement officials from South Korea had communications with him regarding allegations that South Korean government personnel had paid bribes to Cho in exchange for information about ongoing U.S. criminal investigations.

Cho also submitted multiple false documents in connection with the purchase of a co-op apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York, including forged tax returns and bank statements. These false documents inflated his income and assets to secure the co-op board’s approval for the purchase, and funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars from a foreign bank account associated with an entity he created using John Doe’s identity to fund the purchase. Cho was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment, one-year supervised release, and a $200 assessment fee.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: E.D.N.Y., Indict., filed January 22, 2021; E.D.N.Y., Arraignment, January 26, 2021; E.D.N.Y., Order of Forfeiture, June 9, 2021; DOJ Press Release, published October 12, 2021 and E.D.N.Y., Judgment in a Criminal Case, filed October 27, 2021.