Los Angeles Man Sentenced to Over Three Years in Federal Prison in Home Loan Scam That Cost Banks More Than $1 Million

LOS ANGELES—A 50-year-old resident of Tujunga was sentenced this morning to 37 months in federal prison for his participation in a home equity line of credit (HELOC) scheme that resulted in losses of more than $1 million.

David Han was sentenced by United States District Judge Manuel L. Real, who also ordered the defendant to pay $1,065,000 in restitution.

Han pleaded guilty in May to four counts of bank fraud based on his submission of home equity loan applications to four different banks. The HELOC applications were all submitted under the alias “Young He Kim” and were all to be secured by the same property. Han submitted the HELOC applications in a “shotgun” approach in order to obtain approval and funding before any of the banks recorded liens on the property. In addition to concealing his true identity, Han made false representations on his loan applications about his employer, his employment status, and his income.

Once the loans funded, Han directed the proceeds to be deposited into bank accounts that he had opened under the alias, and then he wrote checks to cash or purchased cashier checks to withdraw the funds. After accessing more than $700,000 in loan proceeds, Han sent checks that prosecutors allege were counterfeit—purportedly to be partial loan re-payments—to the banks, which then made additional funds available to Han. Han accessed over $300,000 of these funds before the banks realized that the checks were counterfeit.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.