2 South Korean Nationals Charged With Defrauding US on Maintenance for Military Bases
Hyun Ki Shin and Hyuk Jin Kwon, two South Korean nationals, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Texas for their role in a conspiracy to dampen trade and defraud the U.S. military in South Korea, DOJ said. Shin and Kwon worked as officers of a South Korean construction company that carried out subcontract work on the military bases in South Korea. Starting in 2018, the pair, along with others, worked to "rig bids and fix prices for subcontract work," defrauding the Defense Department to obtain millions of dollars in contracting work in the process, DOJ said.
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The indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, charges Kwon and Shin with one count of conspiracy to restrain trade and six counts of wire fraud. The maximum penalty for the restraining trade count comes with a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. The wire fraud counts come with a maximum sentence of 20 years in person and a $250,000 fine, although this fine can be upped to double the gain received for the crime, DOJ said. “Bid rigging, price fixing and fraud are crimes,” Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of DOJ's Antitrust Division said. “We will not stand by as criminals engage in illegal conduct to harm our military instillations overseas.”