Korean War Veteran Charged With Defrauding Government
An Army veteran who figured in the exposure of the refugee killings at No Gun Ri, South Korea, in 1950 was charged Friday with scheming to defraud the federal government.
Edward Lee Daily falsely claimed he was a Korean POW and that he had been wounded by shrapnel, U.S. Atty. Richard F. Clippard said.
Daily was one of a dozen U.S. Army veterans cited by Associated Press in 1999 as witnesses corroborating the accounts of South Korean survivors that the 7th Cavalry Regiment killed a large number of refugees at No Gun Ri.
Daily later acknowledged he could not have been there at the time and had learned about the killings secondhand.
From February 1986 to October 2001, Daily received compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs and its predecessor, the Veterans Administration, based on an application he filed listing the injury and claiming POW status, Clippard said.
Benefits included $324,911 in payments that were wired to his bank and $87,928 in medical care for his claimed service-related disabilities, Clippard said.
Daily was indicted on a charge of wire fraud. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Clippard said Daily had not been arrested and that an arraignment date had not been set.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
