A federal jury in Alexandria has convicted 52-year-old Chantilly resident Jihoon Park of orchestrating a multi-million-dollar investment and bankruptcy fraud scheme that pocketed more than $2.5 million from local investors who trusted him with their life savings. Park promised victims safe, high-yield returns, then used the money to buy cryptocurrency and a personal residence, while later hiding those same assets from a federal bankruptcy court to keep his victims from recovering their losses.
According to the Tampa Free Press, the jury found Park guilty on three counts of wire fraud and two counts of bankruptcy fraud. Prosecutors said Park claimed he would invest community members' life savings, retirement funds, and other money, then stole millions to enrich himself. Before his legal troubles became public, Park had built his reputation as a registered broker affiliated with MML Investors Services, LLC in Fairfax, entering the securities industry in 2016, according to Wolper Law Firm. He was suspended by FINRA in July 2025 for failing to respond to regulatory inquiries and was automatically barred from the industry that October.
A Life Savings Lost to Crypto
Park's alleged tactics with victims came into sharper focus in a FINRA dispute filed in November 2024, in which an investor accused him of unsuitably recommending she put her life savings — drawn from a life insurance payout and a divorce settlement — into cryptocurrency starting around September 2021, and then converting and stealing the funds, according to a report from MDF Law. That case illustrated a pattern prosecutors would later tie to the broader federal fraud scheme: vulnerable clients steered into crypto investments that vanished.
Park used stolen money to buy a house in Chantilly, according to the sources reviewed.
Hiding Assets From the Bankruptcy Court
Prosecutors said Park claimed he possessed just $0.34 in total financial assets while concealing millions of dollars held in cryptocurrency, and that he moved assets into his wife's name in an effort to keep them out of creditors' reach, per the Tampa Free Press report. Park filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on January 14, 2025, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. After the court trustee sought to claw back a $700,000 home down payment, Park signed a formal waiver of discharge on April 24, 2025. CaseMine reports a June 24 order dismissing the case.
The bankruptcy fight didn't end there. Search results identify Boo Rak Lee as a plaintiff and mention April filings, but they do not establish the details or outcome of any related civil matter.
Federal Prosecutors, FBI Built the Case
The criminal case was investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office and prosecuted by Russell L. Carlberg and Jack Morgan for the Eastern District of Virginia, along with Timothy J. Coley and Zachary H. Ray of the Justice Department, per the Tampa Free Press. A. Tysen Duva said Park's crimes caused devastating financial crises for unsuspecting families and individuals, according to the same report.
The prosecution was spearheaded by trial attorneys from the Justice Department's Criminal Division White Collar Section, supported by the National Fraud Enforcement Division, according to the Department of Justice. Park now faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each wire fraud count and up to five years for each bankruptcy fraud count, with his final sentence to be determined by a federal district court judge after review of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other relevant factors. Sentencing is scheduled for December 10, 2026.
