IRS Agent Faked Identity To Buy Upper East Side Co-op, Feds Say

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An IRS agent was arrested Tuesday on a host of federal fraud charges, including allegations that he falsified documents and faked his identity in an effort to buy an Upper East Side co-op apartment.

Starting in August 2019, Bryan Cho, who worked since 2008 as a criminal investigator for the IRS, funneled more than $1 million from a bank account in Singapore to an account in Cho's spouse's name in order to buy the three-bedroom duplex, according to federal prosecutors.

The Singapore account was registered to a business using the name of a person whom Cho was investigating for the IRS, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, to get the purchase approved by the co-op board, Cho created fake documents claiming his salary was nearly twice what it actually was, that his spouse was employed, and that his family's bank accounts had nearly 10 times more money than they truly had, according to prosecutors.

Cho, also known as Yong Hee Cho, altered bank statements and IRS forms to back up the falsehoods, prosecutors said.

Cho, 49, is also facing charges for owning a fake foreign passport and failing to disclose during a background check that he was being investigated by Korean authorities for taking bribes from Korean officials, prosecutors said. (The Korean investigation is ongoing.)

Cho was arraigned Tuesday afternoon. If convicted of the most serious count, wire fraud, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

"The public places a great deal of trust in those who carry a shield, but when sworn federal officers use this as a free pass instead of a badge of honor, things go awry," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr. said in a statement.