A Korean-American father and son who ran a large apparel company in Los Angeles are facing up to $100 million in fines and prison time for tax evasion and money laundering.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced on October 30 that a federal jury convicted Si Oh Rhew, 70, of La Cañada Flintridge, and his son, Lance Rhew, 37, of downtown Los Angeles, who run C’est Toi Jeans in the Fashion District, guilty.
“After a six-week trial, the jury returned guilty verdicts today on dozens of felony charges,” said Public Information Officer Ciaran McEvoy in a press release. ”The Rhew failed to pay more than $8 million in customs duties while operating their apparel business, laundered money, and failed to report tax returns of more than $17 million.”
Federal prosecutors indicted Rhew in 2020 on 35 charges, including tax evasion and money laundering related to drug money.
In the trial, jurors found Rhew guilty of dozens of felony charges, including failure to report foreign exchange transactions of more than $10,000, importation of goods by misclassification and false representation, false reporting, passing through customs with fraudulent documents, money laundering, and filing false tax returns, according to a federal document.
“Evidence presented at trial showed that C’est Toi Jeans received money from drug trafficking as invoices from customers,” said McEvoy. ”He also evaded customs duties by misrepresenting the value of items being imported, including falsely understating the value of more than $51 million in goods and failing to pay $8.4 million in duties.”
The sentencing hearing for Rhew and his son is scheduled for January 21 next year.
Rhew could face decades in federal prison and a fine of up to $100 million, according to the press release.
“This case underscores the importance of going after companies and individuals who supply money to criminal organizations,” said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada. ”It’s time for Rhew to be held accountable, and the office will continue to bring companies that engage in such criminal activity to justice.”
The case was investigated jointly by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, IRS Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) tracked Rhew’s drug trafficking activities.
BY YEOL JANG, HOONSIK WOO [woo.hoonsik@koreadaily.com]
