Man Convicted Of Stealing $390K From Port Washington Company

Photo: (l-r) Seul Han and Hyun Joon Kim

A Queens man was convicted on Friday of falsifying transactions and pocketing more than $390,000 from a Port Washington-based cosmetics company, according to Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas.

Seul Han, 32, the former logistics manager at Kiss Products, Inc., pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny and first-degree falsifying business records.

His co-defendant Hyun Joon Kim, 46, pleaded guilty to the same charges and was sentenced on March 26 to six months in jail with five years’ probation and ordered to pay $195,097.50 in restitution.

Singas called Han and Kim "scam artists" and said they will be forced to pay back what they stole. “[Han and Kim] used their place of employment as their personal piggybanks to the tune of more than $390,000,” she said in a press release.

According to the DA, Han stole $390,195 from his employer by having the company pay for products by check that were neither ordered nor received from July 28, 2014 to March 18, 2016.

Han, who was responsible for importing items such as nail, eyelash and hair care products, would cover up the theft by falsifying hundreds of documents, including invoices, bills, commercial invoices and packing lists, the DA said.

He would then make the checks for these nonexistent products payable to Keum Sang USA, the principal of which was Kim, who was in on the scheme and would generate many of the false documents, the DA said.

Kim would allegedly deposit the checks given to him by Han into a bank account and then split the proceeds: 60 percent for Kim and 40 percent for Han.

Han and Kim would use the stolen funds for personal use, including credit card purchases, vacations, airline travel, an automobile lease, computer equipment and various household expenses, the DA said.

The scheme was discovered when Han returned to work from leave and subsequently resigned after his employer asked about the doctor's note allowing him to return, which was believed to be forged, the DA said.
After Han left, the company said they reviewed Han's work and found invoices for fictitious product purchases he had been responsible for. They subsequently conducted an audit to identify each of these "purchases."

Han and Kim were arrested in January 2017.

Han is due back in court on June 15 and is expected to be sentenced to one year in jail with five years' probation and will be ordered to pay restitution.

Image via NCDA