Aide Links Kim, Wife to Scheme

A former aide has implicated Rep. Jay C. Kim and his wife in a scheme to launder illegal corporate contributions into his 1992 election campaign, according to federal court documents.

In interviews with the FBI, Jane Chong, who worked as office manager and later treasurer of the Kim campaign committee, reportedly disclosed that:

* The congressman and his wife, June, routinely accepted corporate contributions and occasionally crossed off the word “Inc.” from checks so they could be reported to the Federal Election Commission as donations from individuals.

* June Kim kept secret lists in Korean, indicating the true source of disguised contributions.

* After learning of the FBI’s investigation into campaign finance fraud in 1993, June Kim asked Chong to destroy computerized records that could be used against her husband.

Although Kim has long been considered a target of the FBI’s three-year investigation, he has not been been charged with any crime.

However, the court documents filed this week provide the first public glimpse into the probe of Kim’s campaign, and for the first time link Kim’s wife to the case.

Kim, who is running for a third term in a heavily Republican district covering parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties, denied any wrongdoing Tuesday.

“The allegations are totally unsubstantiated,” he said through a spokesman at his Washington office.

Chong, reached for comment, denied to discuss her statements to the FBI.

The FBI probe was launched after The Times disclosed in 1993 that Kim had used money from his own firm, JayKim Engineers Inc., to bankroll his first bid for Congress.

Since then, the investigation has broadened, implicating a number of Korean-based companies in a plan to illegally contribute $100,000 to Kim’s campaign through employee conduits.

Corporations and foreigners are barred from donating to candidates for federal office.

Since December, Hyundai Motors America, Korea Air, Samsung America and Daewoo International have pleaded guilty to criminal charges of making illicit contributions to Kim’s campaign. They have been fined a total of $1.2 million.

Born in South Korea, Kim is the first Korean American to serve in Congress. Representatives of some of the companies implicated in the scandal said they contributed to his campaign out of ethnic pride and to bolster the sagging spirits of the Korean community here in the wake of the 1992 riots.

Only one of those named in the scheme is currently facing trial. He is Paul Koh, controller at Hyundai Motors America in Fountain Valley. Unlike other Hyundai employees, he was not granted immunity from prosecution in the plea agreement brokered with the U.S. attorney’s office.

According to the government, Koh ignored specific warnings from a Hyundai government relations representative and funneled $4,500 in corporate funds into Kim’s campaign, using himself and other employees as conduits.

Hyundai paid a $600,000 fine as a result.

In advance of his trial on felony charges, the government provided Koh’s defense with potentially exculpatory evidence, including interviews that Kim’s aide, Chong, had with the FBI.

Those interviews are cited by defense attorneys Jerome C. Roth and Bart H. Williams in a motion to dismiss the indictment against Koh, which accuses him of conspiracy and causing the Kim campaign to make false statements to the Federal Election Commission.

In fact, the defense lawyers argue, the FBI documents “establish beyond question that the Kim campaign was corrupt, that it routinely filed false statements with the FEC” and that it failed to make a good-faith effort to determine the source of contributions.

The defense also filed with the court a translated copy of a letter dated July 24, 1992, and mailed to members of the Korea Traders Club, a loose association of about 200 Korean-based companies doing business in the United States.

The letter noted that only U.S. citizens or permanent residents were eligible to contribute and that corporate checks could not be used, indicating obvious knowledge of federal election regulations.

But then it added, “In case that the corporate fund is used, it is advisable to have the eligible persons make the contributions to avoid any problems. If you wish, each member can deliver the contributions directly to Jay Kim.”

The letter listed a target of $100,000 to be raised. Member companies were divided into five groups, according to their size. The largest were asked to contribute $5,000 and the smallest were requested to donate $100.

The letter grew out of a dinner meeting attended by 25 to 30 members of the Korea Traders Club. Kim was the guest speaker.

Although it did not specifically accuse Kim of taking part, the government has contended that a scheme to funnel illegal contributions to Kim was hatched at the meeting, held at the Kangnam Restaurant in Los Angeles’ Koreatown district.

In court documents filed by the government, Assistant U.S. Atty. Edward B. Moreton Jr. indicated he will oppose any effort to introduce the allegations about Kim and his wife in Koh’s trial.

An “expanded trial encompassing evidence of alleged misdeeds by the Kim campaign committee would confuse the jury,” he wrote in an opposition motion, “by leading them to believe--incorrectly--that their verdict depended on the decision as to whether Kim campaign personnel committed a crime and by distracting them from focusing on the defendant’s and other Hyundai Motors conspirators’ conduct.”

A hearing on the defense and prosecution motions is set for Monday before U.S. District Judge Richard A. Paez.