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NEW JERSEY RESIDENT PLEADS GUILTY

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A New Jersey businessman pleaded guilty today to violating federal election law by making illegal contributions to the 1996 campaign of Senator Robert Torricelli, the Justice Department's Campaign Financing Task Force announced.

In a one-count Information filed today in U.S. District Court in Newark, the task force charged Cha-Kuek Koo, aka Charles Koo, a resident of Alpine, New Jersey, and a citizen of the Republic of Korea, with violating the Federal Election Campaign Act. He agreed to plead guilty to the Information and cooperate in the ongoing investigation.

Koo is the President and CEO of LG Group, Executive Office of the Americas, whose parent corporation is a multi-national corporation based in the Republic of Korea with U.S. headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Koo is the 25th person to be charged by the task force, which was established four years ago by Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate allegations of campaign financing abuses in the 1996 election cycle.

The Information alleges that during the 1996 election cycle, Koo assisted David Chang, another New Jersey businessman, in making illegal campaign contributions to Senator Robert Torricelli's 1996 Campaign. By his plea, Koo today admitted that he solicited $20,000 from employees of LG Group and its New Jersey based subsidiaries, who were reimbursed by funds he received from David Chang.

Reimbursed or "conduit" contributions violate the Federal Election Campaign Act which prohibits contributions made in the name of another person. For his offense, Koo faces a maximum sentence of up to one year in prison and a maximum fine of $25,000 or 300 percent of the illegal contributions, whichever is greater.

The case is the result of an ongoing investigation by the Newark Division of the FBI, and the United States Customs Service. The Campaign Financing Task Force is acting as the United States Attorney for New Jersey in this case because of the recusal of the New Jersey office.

In addition to Koo, the Campaign Financing Task Force has prosecuted 24 other individuals and one corporation for offenses relating to violations of the campaign financing laws.

In June 1999, Berek Don, former GOP party leader in Bergen County, NJ, pleaded guilty to another conduit contribution scheme to the Senator Torricelli Campaign. Don awaits sentencing. On December 1, 1999, Carmine Alampi, a Bergen County New Jersey attorney, pleaded guilty to the same scheme. He also awaits sentencing.

On September 15, 1999, Lawrence Penna, the former President of a now-defunct New Jersey securities firm, was charged with violating election laws by funneling illegal campaign contributions to the 1996 federal election campaigns of President Clinton and Senator Torricelli. Penna's case was transferred by agreement to the Southern District of New York where charges relating to his violation of United States' securities laws were pending.

On March 31, 2000, David Chang of Cresskill, New Jersey was charged with causing false statements to be made by the Senatorial campaign of Robert Torricelli to the FEC, and conspiring with others to defraud the United States. The same indictment charged Chang, in a separate conspiracy, to obstruct the Newark Grand Jury's investigation of the scheme, along with Audrey Yu of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Ms. Yu was also charged with perjury. Chang and Yu await trial on June, 6, 2000. Both are presumed innocent.

In addition to the New Jersey cases, the task force has prosecuted an additional 20 individuals. On April 5, 2000, a federal grand jury indicted two Buddhist nuns, Venerables Yi Chu and Man Ho, with contempt of court for failing to appear as witnesses in the government's criminal trial against Maria Hsia. Yi Chu and Man Ho remain fugitives.

On March 2, 2000, Maria Hsia was convicted in D.C. on charges of causing false statements to be submitted to the FEC. The trial had been postponed pending an appeal of a ruling by the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., which had dismissed some of the false statement counts. In May 1999, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. overturned the ruling and reinstated those counts. The task force dismissed a second indictment on tax charges after a jury in Los Angeles failed to reach a verdict. Hsia awaits sentencing in September.

On December 17, 1999, Yogesh Gandhi was sentenced to one year in prison for mail fraud, tax evasion, and violating federal election laws by aiding and abetting the making of a political campaign contribution by a foreign national.

On November 1, 1999, Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie, a Little Rock, Arkansas businessman, was sentenced, after pleading guilty, to a two-count information filed in Little Rock, Arkansas, to three years probation, four months home detention, 200 hours of community service, and a $5,000 fine for violating federal campaign finance laws by making political contributions in someone else's name and by causing a false statement to be made the FEC. Antonio Pan was also indicted with Trie in the District of Columbia, but has not yet been prosecuted because he has remained outside the United States.

On August 16, 1999, a federal judge sentenced Robert S. Lee to three years of probation and 250 hours of community service for aiding and abetting the making of an illegal foreign campaign contribution to the Democratic National Committee.

On August 12, 1999, former Lippo Executive John Huang pleaded guilty to a felony charge, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, that he conspired with other employees of the Indonesia-based Lippo Group to make campaign contributions and reimburse employees with corporate funds or with funds from Indonesia. He was sentenced to one year of probation, 500 hours of community service, a $10,000 fine and directed by the judge to continue cooperating with the investigation as a condition of his probation.

On March 23, 1999, Juan C. Ortiz, the Chief Financial Officer of Future Tech International, Inc., was sentenced to two years probation, $20,000 in fines, and 200 hours in community service for acting as a conduit for an illegal campaign contribution and participating in the reimbursement of eight other conduit contributions.

On December 14, 1998, Johnny Chung was sentenced to probation and 3,000 hours of community service for bank fraud, tax evasion and two misdemeanor counts of conspiring to violate election law.

On November 24, 1998, Howard Glicken, a fund-raiser for the Democratic party, was sentenced to 18 months probation, an $80,000 fine, and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service for violating campaign finance laws.

On November 4, 1998, Franklin Haney was indicted on more than 40 counts, including among others, conspiring with another to defraud the United States by impairing and impeding the FEC and conspiring to violate specific provisions of federal election law. He was acquitted of all charges on June 30, 1999.

On September 30, 1998, Democratic fund-raiser Mark B. Jimenez was indicted in Washington, D.C. on 17 counts of organizing, making and concealing illegal conduit contributions to a number of Democratic campaigns, including the Torricelli Campaign. In December 1998, Future Tech International, Jimenez's Miami based computer sales company, pleaded guilty to tax offenses resulting from its illegal deduction of a $100,000 contribution to the DNC and employee campaign contributions reimbursed through the company's payroll. On April, 15, 1999, Jimenez, who is now in the Philippines, was indicted in Miami on additional charges of tax evasion and fraud. The task force is pursuing Jimenez's extradition from the Philippines.

On July 13, 1998, DNC fund-raiser Pauline Kanchanalak and her business associate Duangnet "Georgie" Kronenerg were charged with conspiring to impair and impede the FEC, and causing the submission of false statements to the FEC. Trial is scheduled for November 13, 2000.

In 1997, the Task Force obtained guilty pleas from Democratic fund-raisers Nora and Gene Lum, and their daughter Trisha, and Michael Brown for illegal fund-raising activities after their cases were referred from Independent Counsel Daniel Pearson. In August 1998, Gene Lum pleaded guilty to filing a false 1994 tax return and falsely preparing Nora's 1994 tax return. After cooperating with the government, he was sentenced in June 1999, to two years in prison. Nora was sentenced to 5 months in a halfway house, 5 months in home detention, and ordered to pay a $30,000 fine. Trisha Lum and Michael Brown each received probation, a $5,000 fine, costs of more than $7,000, and were ordered to perform 150 hours of community service.

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