Virginia Man Convicted of Investor and Bankruptcy Fraud Scheme

A federal jury in Alexandria, Virginia, convicted Jihoon Park, 52, of Chantilly, Virginia, today for his participation in a fraud scheme that victimized individuals and defrauded a U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

"Jihoon Park claimed he would invest his community members' life savings, retirement, and money and promised a high-yield return. Instead, he stole the millions of dollars entrusted to him to enrich himself," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. "Unsuspecting families and individuals suffered devastating financial crises because of Park's crimes. The Criminal Division's White Collar Section is using every available resource to stop criminals from destroying people's livelihoods and retirements."

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Park convinced people in his community to let him invest their money and grow their assets. He used his personal relationships and his former affiliation with a large national financial institution to gain victims' trust and convince them to give him money to invest on their behalf. Park promised safe investments with high returns. But he lied. Instead, he transferred over $2.5 million from the multiple victims to himself. Among other things, he used the stolen money to buy a house and cryptocurrency for himself.

When one of the victims sued him, Park transferred assets to his wife and concealed millions of dollars in cryptocurrency assets before filing for bankruptcy and falsely claiming he had only $0.34 in financial assets and no cryptocurrency to avoid paying his victim creditors any money back from his fraud.

Park was convicted of three counts of wire fraud and two counts of bankruptcy fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 10, 2026. Park faces a maximum penalty of 20 years on the wire fraud counts and a maximum penalty of five years on the bankruptcy fraud counts. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI Washington Field Office is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Timothy J. Coley of the Criminal Division's White Collar and Corporate Enforcement Section and Trial Attorney Zachary H. Ray of the National Fraud Enforcement Division's Health Care Fraud Section are prosecuting the case, with substantial assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorneys Russell L. Carlberg and Jack Morgan for the Eastern District of Virginia.