SANTA ANA, Calif. – An automobile dealership owner and an accounting firm owner were charged and arraigned for filing approximately $1.2 million in fraudulent tax returns. Young Eui Hong, 51, and James Jun Kul Pak, 49, both of Garden Grove, are each charged with six felony counts of unlawful failure to transfer public funds, six felony counts of grand theft by an employee, four felony counts of making a false and fraudulent return over $25,000 tax liability, and sentencing enhancement allegations for aggravated white collar crime over $500,000 and property loss over $200,000. If convicted, Hong and Pak face a maximum sentence of 19 years in state prison. The defendants are scheduled for a pre-trial hearing Dec. 18, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. in Department W-12, West Justice Center, Westminster.

At the time of the crimes, Hong was the owner of Grand Motors, Inc., an automobile dealership, and Pak owned an accounting firm in Garden Grove, which conducted accounting work for Hong's dealership.

Between January 2009, and December 2014, Hong and Pak are accused of knowingly filing false quarterly sales tax returns in which they understated the number of vehicles sold by the dealership, and the amount of sales taxes paid by customers to the dealership, and owed to the State of California.

Hong and Pak are accused of maintaining records at the business and at their residences demonstrating that the number of sales reported to the Board of Equalization in the sales tax returns was approximately half of the actual sales at the dealership on which sales taxes were to be paid.

The case was investigated by Investigators from the California State Board of Equalization, the state agency charged with the enforcement of tax collections relating to sales and use taxes.

Deputy District Attorney Sean O'Brien of the Major Fraud Unit is prosecuting this case.

Orange County District Attorney / Case # 15WF2524 / December 9, 2015