A rogue ex-Citi money man could face up to 25 years in prison after he admitted to looting $3.5 million from a trusting client’s life savings, according to court filings reviewed by The Post.
Disgraced investment adviser Sung Moo “Sam” Cho, 44, pleaded guilty on June 15 to wire and investment fraud in Brooklyn federal court for stealing the funds from a wealthy Franklin Lakes, NJ, resident to fund his lavish lifestyle, the filings show.
He preyed on his unnamed victim between 2023 and 2025, spending the embezzled money on fancy vacations and expensive jewelry, as well as paying off student loans and credit card debt, according to documents posted on the Eastern District of New York court docket.
A now-deleted biography on Citi’s wealth management website states that he joined the Jane Fraser-led firm in October 2025 from Ameriprise Financial after completing stints at Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and Merrill Lynch.
The criminal activity took place at both Ameriprise and Citi, who fired him in April when they uncovered his fraudulent schemes.
Cho bypassed internal compliance at both firms by forging the client’s signature on authorization forms. He triggered massive, unauthorized wire transfers out of the client’s account, court documents state.
To keep his own name off the paper trail, Cho wired the millions straight to a company bank account in Queens, according to the filings.
A co-conspirator owned the unidentified business and collected a kickback fee to wash the money and wire it back into accounts Cho directly controlled, the documents read.
“In exchange for facilitating the scheme, Cho paid the co-conspirator a fee,” prosecutors said. “Through this scheme, Cho embezzled approximately $3.5 million.”
The University at Buffalo alum, a self-described “faithful and hopeful Jets, Mets and Nets fan,” told the client the funds went into a legitimate investment and fabricated completely fake account statements that hid the missing millions.
“In reality, Cho used the stolen funds for personal expenses and luxury purchases, including paying off credit card debt and student loans, taking vacations, and purchasing expensive jewelry,” according to prosecutors.
He then went into internal systems and scrubbed the client’s personal identification information to block any automated system alerts.
The scheme unraveled when a customer complaint reached regulators, with Citigroup moving to boot Cho out of the bank and filing a damning disclosure that exposed his rogue record-keeping.
The bank terminated him over “allegations involving the removal of customer personally identifiable information from firm systems to create non-firm generated statement that was provided to a client as well as refusal to cooperate with an internal investigation,” according to a regulatory filing.
Wall Street watchdog FINRA hit him with a lifetime ban on June 25 after he stonewalled their investigation, as well. It dropped the hammer on Cho after he refused to surrender a single record.
“Without admitting or denying the findings, Cho consented to the sanction and to the entry of findings that he refused to provide information and documents requested by FINRA in connection with its investigation into, among other things, whether he misappropriated customer funds, forged customer signatures, and falsified firm documents while associated with two member firms.” an entry on his FINRA profile reads.
The regulatory expulsion strips Cho of his ability to register as a broker or associate with any FINRA-member firm in any capacity, citing flagrant violations of rules governing basic standards of commercial honor.
On his LinkedIn page that carries “he/him” pronouns, Cho bizarrely boasts that he has been “dedicated to client-centric service” during his nearly two decades in the industry.
When federal prosecutors filed a two-count criminal indictment in the Eastern District of New York, Cho immediately waived his right to a trial and entered a straight guilty plea before US District Judge Joan Azrack.
Under federal law, the count of wire fraud carries a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, while the secondary count of investment adviser fraud carries a statutory maximum of five years.
No trial date has been set, but Cho is free on bail after posting a $200,000 bond and surrendering his passport.
The government now demands absolute restitution for the victim, who has not been named. Prosecutors plan to seize any luxury property, jewelry or cash tied to the fraud.
If Cho has already spent his ill-gotten gains, the government holds the right to seize his substitute personal assets.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York declined to comment. The Post has sought comment from Citi, Ameriprise and Cho’s lawyer Norman Spencer.
