Citi slicker: Rogue Wall Street adviser steals – Business News
A rogue ex-Citi money man may face up to 25 years in jail after he admitted to looting $3.5 million from a trusting consumer’s life financial savings, in response to courtroom filings reviewed by The Post.
Disgraced investment adviser Sung Moo “Sam” Cho, 44, pleaded guilty on June 15 to wire and investment fraud in Brooklyn federal courtroom for stealing the funds from a rich Franklin Lakes, NJ, resident to fund his lavish way of life, the filings show.
He preyed on his unnamed sufferer between 2023 and 2025, spending the embezzled money on fancy holidays and costly jewellery, in addition to paying off scholar loans and credit card debt, in response to paperwork posted on the Eastern District of New York courtroom docket.
Cho may face up to 25 years in jail over his $3.5 embezzlement scheme. Sung Moo Cho / Facebook
A now-deleted biography on Citi’s wealth management web site states that he joined the Jane Fraser-led firm in October 2025 from Ameriprise Financial after finishing stints at Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and Merrill Lynch.
The prison exercise came about at each Ameriprise and Citi, who fired him in April after they uncovered his fraudulent schemes.
Cho bypassed inside compliance at each corporations by forging the consumer’s signature on authorization kinds. He triggered huge, unauthorized wire transfers out of the consumer’s account, courtroom paperwork state.
To keep his own identify off the paper path, Cho wired the tens of millions straight to a company bank account in Queens, in response to the filings.
Cho bought the boot in April after a buyer grievance landed on the desk of regulators. Gado by way of Getty Images
A co-conspirator owned the unidentified business and picked up a kickback charge to wash the money and wire it back into accounts Cho straight managed, the paperwork learn.
“In exchange for facilitating the scheme, Cho paid the co-conspirator a fee,” prosecutors mentioned. “Through this scheme, Cho embezzled approximately $3.5 million.”
The University at Buffalo alum, a self-described “faithful and hopeful Jets, Mets and Nets fan,” informed the consumer the funds went into a respectable investment and fabricated utterly pretend account statements that hid the lacking tens of millions.
“In reality, Cho used the stolen funds for personal expenses and luxury purchases, including paying off credit card debt and student loans, taking vacations, and purchasing expensive jewelry,” in response to prosecutors.
He then went into inside systems and scrubbed the consumer’s personal identification info to dam any automated system alerts.
No trial date has been set but, however Cho has been freed on bail after posting a $200,000 bond and surrendering his passport. AFP by way of Getty Images
The scheme unraveled when a buyer grievance reached regulators, with Citigroup shifting besides Cho out of the bank and submitting a damning disclosure that uncovered his rogue record-keeping.
The bank terminated him over “allegations involving the removal of customer personally identifiable information from firm systems to create non-firm generated statement that was provided to a client as well as refusal to cooperate with an internal investigation,” in response to a regulatory submitting.
Wall Street watchdog FINRA hit him with a lifetime ban on June 25 after he stonewalled their investigation, as effectively. It dropped the hammer on Cho after he refused to give up a single file.
“Without admitting or denying the findings, Cho consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to provide information and documents requested by FINRA in connection with its investigation into, among other things, whether he misappropriated customer funds, forged customer signatures, and falsified firm documents while associated with two member firms.” an entry on his FINRA profile reads.
Cho joined Citi from Ameriprise after stints at Wells Fargo, JPMorgan and Merill Lynch, in response to his now-deleted biography on the Jane Fraser-led lender’s web site. Bloomberg by way of Getty Images
The regulatory expulsion strips Cho of his capability to register as a broker or affiliate with any FINRA-member firm in any capability, citing flagrant violations of guidelines governing fundamental requirements of business honor.
On his LinkedIn web page that carries “he/him” pronouns, Cho bizarrely boasts that he has been “dedicated to client-centric service” during his almost twenty years within the industry.
When federal prosecutors filed a two-count prison indictment within the Eastern District of New York, Cho instantly waived his proper to a trial and entered a straight guilty plea earlier than US District Judge Joan Azrack.
Under federal law, the rely of wire fraud carries a statutory most penalty of 20 years in jail, whereas the secondary rely of investment adviser fraud carries a statutory most of 5 years.
No trial date has been set, however Cho is free on bail after posting a $200,000 bond and surrendering his passport.
The authorities now calls for absolute restitution for the sufferer, who has not been named. Prosecutors plan to grab any luxurious property, jewellery or money tied to the fraud.
If Cho has already spent his ill-gotten features, the federal government holds the suitable to grab his substitute personal property.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York declined to remark. The Post has sought remark from Citi, Ameriprise and Cho’s lawyer Norman Spencer.
