SANTA ANA, CALIF.
An Orange County man plead guilty to embezzling approximately $1.4 million from his employer, a crime he committed when he was pending sentencing in another embezzlement case involving another former employer.
Peter Suk Lee, 49, a resident of the City of Orange, plead guilty Monday to a federal bank fraud charge. He admitted that he embezzled company funds from Contempo Inc. USA, a family-owned, Los Angeles-based business that imports and distributes fashion accessories.
In court, Lee also admitted that, between his stints at Contempo and another business, Glovis America Inc., he embezzled from a third company.
Lee specifically admitted that he stole about $70,000 from the Placentia-based Orion Technology, Inc.
He faces up to 90 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on Aug. 15.
From August 2014 through September 2015, Lee was the controller at Contempo.
During this time, Lee embezzled money by forging the signatures of the company officers on 92 unauthorized checks that were made out to him and several associates.
The total value of these checks was $1.38 million. Lee admitted that he deposited $393,400 embezzled from Contempo into his personal TD Ameritrade account, and caused other embezzled funds to be wired to casinos for his use.
At the time, Lee was free on bond and awaiting sentencing after he plead guilty to wire fraud for embezzling money from another business.
In that prior case, Lee admitted that he embezzled approximately $2.65 million from Glovis, an Irvine-based automotive logistics company where Lee had been employed as the accounting manager.
“This defendant’s brazen theft of millions of dollars from three different employers in only a few years was extremely harmful to those companies,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker. “That Mr. Lee continued to victimize employers while pending sentencing on fraud charges makes his actions all the more outrageous.”