A federal grand jury has indicted a Los Angeles man on money laundering charges involving Appalachian State University. Nearly $2 million was stolen from the school.
The 14-count indictment alleges that 31-year-old Ho Shin Lee funneled the money through various bank accounts.
It traces back to 2016, when Lee registered Royce Hub Trading, a general merchandise corporation in California. According to the charges, he then opened bank accounts in the name of the business.
Around the same time, App State awarded a contract to Rodgers Builders to construct a new health sciences building. The High Country Press reports that later that year, someone posing as a Rodgers employee sent an email with deposit instructions, allegedly linked to Lee.
Prosecutors claim that Lee transferred funds out of his account in order to hide the nature, location, and source of the money.
The maximum penalty for each of the charges is twenty years in prison and a $500 thousand fine.