LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles woman was sentenced Thursday to three years in federal prison for orchestrating a scheme that led to the fraudulent purchase of four properties worth more than $2 million, officials said.
Soo Kyung Hong, who also used the name “Maria Hong,” 48, a resident of the Miracle Mile section of Los Angeles, was also ordered Hong to pay about $2 million in restitution, which includes losses from four additional properties fraudulently purchased in a related scheme, according to authorities.
Hong pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, admitting that she falsified income and employment information to fraudulently obtain mortgages to purchase four properties in Hesperia, Laguna Niguel, and Hacienda Heights, officials said.
To further the scheme, officials said Hong engaged a co-conspirator to allow Hong to falsely list the co-conspirator’s company as a place of employment on the fraudulent mortgage applications that were filed under the name of a person who did not know their name was being used.
Hong instructed the co-conspirator to direct calls seeking employment verification to Hong. As part of the scheme, banks funded mortgages on four properties, all of which fell into foreclosure and caused losses of more than $1 million, according to officials.