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60-year-old with ‘gambling addiction’ steals $1.5 million from ballet school, feds say
A former worker who oversaw the finances of a ballet charity in Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 42 months in prison on Wednesday for embezzling more than $1.5 million, federal officials said.
Sophia Kim, 60, the former treasurer and comptroller for the Universal Ballet Foundation, which operates the Kirov Academy of Ballet, pleaded guilty to one charge of bank fraud in May, the U.S. Department of Justice wrote in a news release.
From January to September 2018, Kim is accused of stealing money from the Kirov Academy of Ballet’s bank accounts for her “gambling addiction” and other financial issues, according to an FBI affidavit.
Officials said she spent $1 million at a MGM National Harbor Casino in Oxon Hill, Maryland, the news release states.
In Kim’s role, she had access to the school’s bank accounts and debit and credit cards, court documents show.
She was fired in September 2018 due to “performance issues.” Following her termination, Kim told a coworker she had taken $800,000 from the academy’s bank account, court documents state.
Kim’s public defender, David W. Bos, said in a sentencing memorandum that she stole the money because of an “untreated gambling addiction.” He added that she has attended “Gambling Anonymous” meetings and mental health therapy for almost the past two years.
Four days after her admission, she met with another employee and signed a document stating she had stolen the money and misused it for “gambling purposes,” according to the affidavit.
Kim told the worker she replaced some of the money back in the accounts when her gambling was successful, apologed “repeatedly” and had no hesitancy when signing the document of guilt.
But officials discovered she stole more than $800,000 from the organization.
Instead, she embezzled more than $1.5 million, court documents state.She wrote 68 unauthorized checks, made 197 debit or cash withdrawals and charged the academy’s credit card 139 times.
Of those withdrawals and debit and credit charges, 240 were from the MGM National Harbor Casino.
She returned about $27,500 back to the organization.
Kim’s attorney declined McClatchy News’ request for comment, citing an office policy.
Kim is also ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution and faces four years of supervised release.
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