Brian Kim (also known as "Bu Yung Kim"; born 1975/1976) is an American former

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as s ...

manager. He founded the now-defunct Liquid Capital Management LLC, which focused on

futures trading In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called a futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The asset ...

. In 2011, he was found guilty of fraudulent solicitation, misappropriation, and misrepresentation to investors and regulatory organizations, and sought an injunction preventing him from trading in commodities futures and foreign currencies. A $12.5 million default judgement was entered against him, and he was banned from

commodity trading A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products, such as cocoa, fruit and sugar. Hard commodities are mined, such as gold and oil. Futures contracts are the oldest way of investing ...

. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to charges including

passport fraud A passport is a travel document issued by a government to a citizen of that country. The purpose of this document is to allow entry back into the home country, as well as access into other countries around the world by providing legal proof of i ...

grand larceny Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Engl ...

, scheme to defraud, violation of the NY General Business Law (

Martin Act The Martin Act (New York General Business Law article 23-A, sections 352–353) is a New York anti-fraud law, widely considered to be the most severe blue sky law in the country. Passed in 1921, it grants the Attorney General of New York expansive ...

), and

falsifying business records Falsifying business records is a crime in the laws of several U.S. states. New York law Elements and punishment Under New York law, falsifying business records in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor, while falsifying business records in the ...

to further a Ponzi scheme. He was sentenced to a term between 5 years, 7 months and 15 years, 7 months in prison.

Early career

Kim was born in the late-mid 1970s in New Jersey. He graduated from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

in 1997, where he had majored in economics and minored in art history. He founded the now-defunct Liquid Capital Management LLC, which focused on

, in 2002 and had an office on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in New York City. In 2009, Kim twice appeared on

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

's financial television news show ''

Squawk Box ''Squawk Box'' is an American business news television program that airs from 6 to 9 a.m. Eastern time on CNBC. The program is co-hosted by Joe Kernen, Becky Quick, and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Since debuting in 1995, the show has spawned a number ...

'', speaking as an expert about derivatives trading.

Christodora House charges

Brian Kim owned and lived in an apartment at

Christodora House Christodora House is a historic building located at 143 Avenue B in the East Village/Alphabet City neighborhoods of Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by architect Henry C. Pelton (architect of Riverside Church) in the American Perpend ...

. He was indicted and arrested in 2009, and accused of stealing $435,000 from the Christodora House condo association in 2008.

Flight and arrest

Kim failed to appear at his trial in January 2011, and was charged with jumping bail. He had fled to Hong Kong after obtaining a new passport by saying his was lost. In fact it had been confiscated by authorities. He was taken into custody in Hong Kong in October 2011, and was returned to the United States.

Ponzi scheme charges and default judgment

After an investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) into his hedge fund business, in February 2011, Kim was charged both civilly and criminally with financial fraud,

, and scheme to defraud for running a $6 million Ponzi scheme from January 2003 through January 2011, and cheating at least 45 investors from the West Coast while providing them with fake monthly performance statements. According to prosecutors, he misrepresented the quality of the investments to his clients, while stealing some of the money for himself. The CFTC sued Kim and Liquid Capital in February 2011, charging them with fraudulent solicitation, misappropriation, and misrepresentation to investors and regulatory organizations, and seeking an injunction preventing them from trading in commodities futures and foreign currencies.CFTC Release: pr6028-11; New York Federal Court Orders Brian Kim and Liquid Capital Management, LLC, to Pay More than $12 Million in Restitution and Monetary Sanctions for Commodity Pool Fraud; Defendants were indicted by a New York County Grand Jury in February 2011.
April 21, 2011 The agency said Kim and his employees told clients that Liquid Capital generated returns of more than 240 percent, when in fact they were losing money, and the only funds coming in were from new deposits by clients. In April 2011, Judge

Denise Cote Denise Louise Cote (born October 13, 1946) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Early life and education Cote was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota. She received a Bache ...

of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found the defendants guilty of all charges. She entered a

default judgment Default judgment is a binding judgment in favor of either party based on some failure to take action by the other party. Most often, it is a judgment in favor of a plaintiff when the defendant has not responded to a summons or has failed to appear ...

of $12.5 million against him, and he and Liquid Capital were banned from further commodity trading. In addition, the court froze his assets.

Guilty pleas and sentencing

In March 2012, he pleaded guilty to passport fraud by making false statements to officials saying his was lost, after prosecutors had confiscated his passport. He was sentenced in April 2012 to 14 months in prison. On March 16, 2012, Kim pleaded guilty to nine of the 26 counts against him, including grand larceny, scheme to defraud, violation of the NY General Business Law (

), and falsifying business records in connection with the Ponzi scheme charge, and stealing $435,000 from the Christadora House. In April 2012, Kim was sentenced by Justice Charles H. Solomon in

New York State Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

in Manhattan to 5 to 15 years in state prison, which was to commence after Kim had served seven months in federal prison on his passport fraud conviction.

References

External links

"Ex Parte Statutory Restraining Order Freezing Assets ..."
''CFTC v. BRIAN KIM and LIQUID CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC'', Southern District of New York, February 15, 2011
"Order for Entry of Default Judgment Permanent Injunction and Ancillary Equitable Relief against Brian Kim and Liquid Capital Management, LLC"
''CFTC v. BRIAN KIM and LIQUID CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC'', Southern District of New York, April 15, 2011
"Initial Decision on Default"
''In the Matter of: BRIAN KIM, and LIQUID CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC, Registrants'', U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, November 9, 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Brian 1970s births Living people 21st-century American criminals American businesspeople convicted of crimes American chief executives of financial services companies American financial company founders American financiers American hedge fund managers American investors American prisoners and detainees American people convicted of fraud Businesspeople from New York City American confidence tricksters Criminals from New Jersey Criminals from New York City Dartmouth College alumni People convicted of making false statements People from the East Village, Manhattan Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Pyramid and Ponzi schemes