A federal grand jury has charged two brothers in Southern California with tax evasion on greater than $1.1 million in revenue they allegedly obtained partially from a years-long scheme promoting tee occasions on native golf programs.
Se Youn “Steve” Kim, 41, and his equivalent twin brother, Hee Youn “Ted” Kim, 41, had been arrested Thursday morning by federal authorities and pleaded not responsible.
From 2021 to 2023, the Kim brothers’ tee time brokering enterprise scooped up 1000’s of reservation slots at golf programs throughout the U.S., together with not less than 17 public golf programs in Southern California, in line with the indictment filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court docket.
The brothers used on-line platforms together with KakaoTalk, a Korean instantaneous messaging app, to succeed in their clients. Federal prosecutors say that by rapidly nabbing standard early morning tee occasions virtually instantly after they had been out there to the general public, the brothers “created a monopoly” of Southern California golf programs.
The prevalence of tee-time brokering was reported by The Occasions final 12 months, during which scores of native golfers shared frustrations over their incapability to safe a tee time on public programs in L.A.
“Lastly, it’s justice,” mentioned Joseph Lee, a vocal critic of tee time brokers who helped acquire proof and met with federal prosecutors throughout their investigation of the Kim brothers. “For a very long time, L.A. golfers have been pissed off by these unlawful tee time brokers and their resale market. Authorities have lastly acknowledged the seriousness of the problem.”
Anthony Solis, the legal professional representing Ted Kim, mentioned he didn’t instantly have a response on behalf of his consumer. The legal professional representing Steve Kim didn’t reply to a message in search of remark.
Federal prosecutors mentioned the brothers had clients pay reservation charges to their private accounts through Venmo, Zelle, and different functions. The tee time brokering enterprise netted the brothers almost $700,000 between 2021 and 2023, in line with the indictment. The brothers, who additionally labored as MRI technicians, are accused of willfully failing to report a mixed $1.1 million in revenue to the Inside Income Service for 2022 and 2023.
The Kim brothers are additionally accused of failing to pay taxes that the IRS had assessed. Relatively than paying off mounting tax money owed, the indictment alleges that the brothers made lavish purchases at Chanel, Cartier, Prada and Louis Vuitton.
In a short interview with The Occasions final 12 months, Ted Kim mentioned that he used as much as 5 gadgets and relied on unspecified mates to safe tee occasions. He mentioned he’s on the identical enjoying area as each different golfer in L.A. and doesn’t use bots to recreation the system.
“It’s not like I’m making the most of expertise. I’m reserving myself,” Kim instructed The Occasions in an interview. “I’m not doing something unlawful.”
Kim instructed the newspaper that he profited a pair thousand {dollars} a month, and framed his enterprise as a manner of serving to aged Korean golfers with out tech savvy to navigate the net golf reservation system.
“I’m simply serving to Korean seniors, as a result of they’ve a proper to play golf, as a result of all of the Koreans play golf, proper? With out my assist, they really wrestle,” he mentioned.
It is a breaking information story and might be up to date.
