NEW YORK–Federal prosecutors are seeking a prison term of as much as a decade for a former credit union CEO here, but the ex-CEO and his attorneys are hoping for a more lenient sentence.
Kam Wong, 63, the former president/CEO of Municipal Credit Union, who has pleaded guilty to theft and embezzlement of as much as $10 million from the credit union, has submitted to the court dozens of letters submitted by family members and friends that depict a loving father, husband and friend whose life went awry, according to Crain’s New York Business.
"Over the course of my life … there has been only one true role model that I aspired to become one day, and that person was my father," wrote his son, Edward Wong, Crain’s reported. His sister, Virginia Chiu, also, "I pray that you will consider the man Kam was and give him a chance to be that person for his family again."
Wong's attorneys described him as "a walking testament to human frailty and the dangers of unchecked addiction" in their own memo to U.S. District Judge John Koeltl, and attributed his crimes to a gambling addiction. Wong is to be sentenced June 4.
But federal prosecutors say Wong’s actions make clear he is a different man that the one described in those letters.
"It is difficult to overstate the damage that the defendant caused—damage so severe that the credit union was recently placed into receivership," the prosecutors wrote in a May 20 sentencing memo, Crain’s reported.
As CUToday.info reported here, the $3-billion Municipal Credit Union, which has more than 588,000 members, was recently placed into conservatorship.
Allegations Made
Among the various charges made by prosecutors as cited by Crain’s New York Business, Wong:
- Allegedly billed the credit union $280,000 for dental work that was never performed
- Submitted sham invoices for $25,000 worth of car repairs that were covered by insurance
- Withdrew $8,000 from credit union ATMs, which Wong said was for the purpose of "testing" them
- Billed MCU more than $100,000 to cover the rent, education and living expenses of two interns who did little or no work
- Stole $7.7 million from the credit union for the purpose of buying disability insurance that was never purchased
Federal investigators said when they began looking into events, Wong lied to them and told others to lie, according to the report.
Headline Grabber
Among the headline-grabbing allegations in the alleged theft has been that Wong used millions of dollars to buy lottery tickets, including buying $100 worth of Win4 tickets every day. According to his attorneys, the “stress” from the financial crisis and Superstorm Sandy led Wong between 2013 and 2017 to steal $4.5 million from MCU to buy lottery tickets. Allegedly, a member of MCU's supervisory committee helped keep the credit union in the dark, “while Wong soothed his conscience by popping hydrocodone pills and sipping from a bottle of codeine-laced syrup at his desk,” Crain’s New York reported.
“Prosecutors added that Wong doesn't even appear to have worked all that hard running MCU,” the Crain’s review of the sentencing statement reads. “They said a review of his Internet history shows he spent ‘hours each day’ online engaging in social media, watching Hulu and YouTube, researching Hong Kong real estate and building his car—a custom Bentley.”