Jury Gets Case of Ex-Kim Campaign Treasurer

A federal prosecutor and a defense lawyer made their final appeals Tuesday to jurors in the trial of the former campaign treasurer for Rep. Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar), asking them to focus on whether the defendant intended to mislead the Federal Election Commission.

“This is a case about a man who simply did not care about the rules and the law,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard Drooyan told the jury. “He knew the information [about contributors] had to be reported, and he didn’t want it reported.”

But Seokuk Ma’s defense attorney countered that: “In this country, we don’t take away [a person’s] freedom for making simple mistakes.” Ignorance of the law “may very well be an excuse in this case,” said Sherryl Michaelson, whose fees were covered in part by Kim’s campaign.

Ma, who served as Kim’s volunteer treasurer from April through November 1994, was indicted last year on charges that he received and concealed illegal contributions, causing false campaign reports to be filed to the FEC. He also is accused of pressuring a contributor to withhold information about her $2,500 donation from a federal grand jury last year.

The jury began its deliberations Tuesday afternoon.

While Ma conceded that he accepted the contributions and illegally reimbursed individual contributors with $18,000 out of his own pocket, he denied that he told Lola Park, a businesswoman who paid $2,500 with a corporate check for a framed note signed by Kim at a fund-raising auction, not to testify about it. Corporate contributions are illegal in federal elections.

Drooyan said Ma’s motive in the alleged witness tampering would be to protect Kim. The note, Drooyan said, put the congressman “right in the middle of knowing about an illegal contribution.”

Kim has not been charged with any wrongdoing, but said in court papers he would take the 5th Amendment if called to the stand. Prompted by a 1993 Times series on mismanagement in Kim’s political machine, the FBI has been investigating his campaign for four years.