Community Corner

Fort Lee Woman Indicted in Connection with Large-Scale Identity Theft Case

Rita Kim of Fort Lee was allegedly part of Palisades Park man's identity theft and bank fraud ring that netted millions.

A Fort Lee woman faces up to 20 years in jail after a federal grand jury returned an indictment Friday, charging the woman and one other person with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, federal authorities said.

Rita Kim, 48, of Fort Lee, and Hyon-Suk Chung, 49, of North Bergen, were previously arrested and charged, along with dozens of others, including Sang-Hyun “Jimmy” Park, 45, of Palisades Park, in connection with “widespread, sophisticated identity theft and fraud,” according to authorities.

Earlier this month, NorthJersey.com reported that Park confessed to a federal judge in Newark that he ran a multi-million dollar identity theft and bank fraud ring, selling social security cards to clients to obtain fraudulent bank loans, credit cards and for other purposes.

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Members of Park’s ring allegedly obtained social security cards, most beginning with the prefix 586, which were issued to people usually from China and working in U.S. territories like American Samoa, Guam and Saipan, from various brokers and sold those numbers to their mostly Korean “customers,” according to authorities.

Authorities said Park’s group also used the social security numbers to obtain actual driver’s licenses and other forms of identification from various states or to manufacture such counterfeit documents.

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Kim and Chung allegedly served as members of the “credit build-up teams” that facilitated the fraud, authorities said.

They each face a maximum of 20 years in prison and $250,000 fines if convicted, according to the United States Attorney's Office. The indictment was handed up by a federal grand jury in Newark.


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