United States v. Benjamin Kim

Closed Criminal Division Cases

United States v. Benjamin Kim
Court Docket Number: 12-cr-114-JCM-VCF

United States v. Benjamin Kim, Court Docket Number: 12-cr-114-JCM-VCF - Case assigned to Judge James C. Mahan.

On February 4, 2013, in the District of Nevada, Ben Kim was sentenced to 3 years of probation on his May 29, 2012 guilty plea to one count of misprision of a felony (Count 1: 18 U.S.C. § 4) stemming from his role in a scheme to conceal a fraudulent loan application to obtain a Small Business Association loan in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area. Kim’s case was consolidated with United States v. Rosalio Alcantar et al., in which his co-defendant and wife, Lisa Kim also was charged. Lisa Kim pleaded guilty to the same charge and awaits sentencing. For more details on the case against Lisa Kim go to the link for United States v. Lisa Kim on this website.

According to plea documents, Ben Kim was an owner of Courthouse Café LLC (CHC), which was awarded a contract from the Clark County Commission to operate a café in the Regional Justice Center. The contract prohibited CHC from assigning its rights or duties or subcontracting any of its services without Clark County approval. According to plea documents, Ben Kim admitted that, without informing Clark County officials, CHC entered into a joint venture agreement (Agreement) allowing another party to operate the café and retain the profits for a period of three years in exchange for a $35,000 down payment and $8,000 per month in rent to CHC. Ben Kim admitted that he and a co-conspirator, on behalf of CHC, signed and submitted a loan application to a bank that did not disclose the Agreement and that he and Lisa Kim agreed to conceal the Agreement from the bank. The Kims, along with the other owners of CHC, agreed to enhance the financial statements and make the financial statements of the other party in the Agreement appear as if they were CHC’s.

Plea Agreement