Bellevue Wealth Manager To Enter Guilty Plea In Ponzi Scheme: Report

BELLEVUE, WA - A local hedge fund manager who allegedly ran a Ponzi scheme may soon enter a guilty plea, according to a new report.

Chris Young Yoo is facing charges of wire fraud and making false statements, and is expected to plead guilty at a hearing later in March, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Yoo was CEO of Summit Asset Strategies, a Bellevue wealth management firm.

Yoo has already settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission for approximately $1 million, according to the P-I. In September 2015, the SEC charged Summit and Yoo for "fraudulently inflating the values of investment in the portfolio of a private fund they advised so that they could obtain unearned management fees," according to the state Department of Financial Institutions.

As part of the Ponzi scheme allegation, Yoo would allegedly use fees from new clients to pay himself and for investment gains of old ones clients. Total client losses were around $3.5 million, according to the P-I.

Yoo's attorney, Michelle Peterson, told the P-I that he has been cooperating with federal prosecutors as part of a plea agreement.

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