Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 22, 1995 TAG: 9507240035
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA LENGTH: Medium
Kum Ja Ridler paired borrowers with corrupt bank loan officers and defrauded four Northern Virginia banks of more than $1.4 million. She pleaded guilty to bank fraud in May.
The case included the suicides of two men who officials say were involved in engineering the bogus loans. One of the dead men, Kenneth LeBrun, was Ridler's lover, court papers said.
Before his death, LeBrun admitted he received ``sexual favors and gifts in exchange for favorable treatment for [Ridler] and her friends in obtaining loans'' from Federal Savings Bank, court papers said.
U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan Jr. ordered Ridler to serve 27 months in prison, followed by five years of probation. She must repay $200,000 to the banks she cheated and a $5,000 federal fine.
``I was expecting this,'' said Ridler's lawyer, Nina Ginsberg. ``I think it is reasonable.''
The fine is due immediately, and the restitution will be paid in installments once Ridler resumes working, the judge said.
``She can make a good living. She's got plenty of sense,'' Bryan said.
Ridler, 39, owned two mortgage lending firms, NOVA Consulting Inc. and NOVA Funding Inc. The Korean-born mortgage broker recruited businesses - many of them small, Korean-owned firms - to trade in older, high-interest loans for new financing that she arranged.
In some cases she got kickbacks from the businesses or individuals for whom she arranged loans at Federal Savings Bank of Virginia, Fairfax Bank & Trust Co., Bank of Northern Virginia and NVR Savings Bank and Trust Co.
Ridler and associates created false tax and other documents to disguise the fact that most of the loans were unsecured, court documents show.
To complete the deals, she bribed bank officials with cash, gifts and personal loans, prosecutors said, and sometimes received loans for herself in addition to those for clients.
She used the money to finance a plush lifestyle in McLean with her husband and 14-year-old daughter. The scam was discovered after several of the loans went bad.
Four other people have pleaded guilty in the case, including LeBrun. He admitted receiving bribes and pleaded guilty to bank fraud in May 1993.
He was found dead the day after he was supposed to appear for sentencing in August of that year. He committed suicide by swallowing horse tranquilizers in a Fauquier County motel, a coroner ruled.
Kent Larson, the former vice president and chief loan officer at NVR, also admitted wrongdoing. He helped administer more than 40 high-risk loans for Ridler and two of her employees. The loans included one for $60,000 in December 1993 to Ho Y. You, who worked for Ridler at NOVA Funding.
You committed suicide last year by slashing his throat and wrist. He left a suicide note that said Ms. Ridler owed him thousands of dollars, court papers said.
In a disjointed, barely audible statement, Ridler told the judge she was sorry and has tried to help investigators collect outstanding debts.
A federal prosecutor argued unsuccessfully that Ridler should receive a longer sentence than federal sentencing guidelines prescribe.
``Her ability was to bring together borrowers, some of whom were aware these were illicit loans and some who were not, with corrupt bank officials,'' Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Wiechering said.
by CNB