Joint HSI, DOD investigation lands Virginia attorney in federal prison for tax fraud
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – An investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Norfolk and the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) landed a Virginia attorney in federal prison for more than four years for tax fraud. Nosuk Kim, 61, of Newport News, was sentenced to 52 months in prison Jan. 5 and ordered to pay a $200,000 fine for evading the assessment of her 2015- and 2016-income tax returns.
According to the joint investigation, Kim was formerly a licensed attorney, substitute judge, and member of the disciplinary committee for the Virginia State Bar. While serving in these capacities, she and her husband laundered more than $2.2 million in fraud proceeds through an entity in China and her attorney-trust account.
“Nosuk Kim prioritized her own greed over her positions of public trust as an attorney, substitute judge, and member of the disciplinary committee for the Virginia State Bar,” said Derek W. Gordon, acting special agent in charge of HSI Washington, D.C. “In doing so, she violated the well-being of the public she had sworn to protect by stealing almost $900,000 from them in lost tax revenue. HSI works tirelessly with our partner law enforcement organizations to hold such criminals accountable for their actions.”
Kim used the laundered funds to pay down a home equity line of credit on her family’s home and to purchase other real estate investments.
The laundered funds were proceeds of her husband, Beyung Kim’s extensive procurement fraud scheme involving more than $7 million in government contracts. Beyung Kim, was previously prosecuted and sentenced to 58 months in prison in August 2021.
Despite laundering approximately $970,000 of taxable income in 2015 and approximately $1,250,000 of taxable income in 2016, the defendant did not report any of this income on her federal income taxes for those tax years, according to the joint HSI, DCIS investigation. As a result of her tax fraud, the defendant caused approximately $868,924.54 in lost tax revenue to the United States.
The investigation into Kim’s crimes was conducted by HSI Norfolk and DCIS with significant contributions from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia; the IRS-Criminal Investigation Washington, D.C. field office; the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service Economic Crimes Field Office; and the Defense Contract Audit Agency.
HSI is a directorate of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 6,800 special agents assigned to 225 cities throughout the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.
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