Citi slicker: Rogue Wall Street adviser steals $3.5M from shopper to fund lavish life-style

A rogue ex-Citi cash man might withstand 25 years in jail after he admitted to looting $3.5 million from a trusting shopper’s life financial savings, in line with court docket filings reviewed by The Post. 

Disgraced funding adviser Sung Moo “Sam” Cho, 44, pleaded responsible on June 15 to wire and funding fraud in Brooklyn federal court docket for stealing the funds from a rich Franklin Lakes, NJ, resident to fund his lavish life-style, the filings present.

He preyed on his unnamed sufferer between 2023 and 2025, spending the embezzled cash on fancy holidays and costly jewellery, in addition to paying off pupil loans and bank card debt, in line with paperwork posted on the Eastern District of New York court docket docket.

A now-deleted biography on Citi’s wealth administration web site states that he joined the Jane Fraser-led agency in October 2025 from Ameriprise Financial after finishing stints at Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and Merrill Lynch.

The legal exercise happened at each Ameriprise and Citi, who fired him in April once they uncovered his fraudulent schemes.

Cho bypassed inner compliance at each corporations by forging the shopper’s signature on authorization varieties. He triggered large, unauthorized wire transfers out of the shopper’s account, court docket paperwork state.

To preserve his personal title off the paper path, Cho wired the hundreds of thousands straight to an organization checking account in Queens, in line with the filings. 

A co-conspirator owned the unidentified enterprise and picked up a kickback price to clean the cash and wire it again into accounts Cho instantly managed, the paperwork learn.

“In exchange for facilitating the scheme, Cho paid the co-conspirator a fee,” prosecutors mentioned. “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,” advised the shopper the funds went right into a official funding and fabricated fully pretend account statements that hid the lacking hundreds of thousands. 

“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,” in line with prosecutors.

He then went into inner techniques and scrubbed the shopper’s private identification info to dam any automated system alerts.

The scheme unraveled when a buyer grievance reached regulators, with Citigroup transferring as well Cho out of the financial institution and submitting a damning disclosure that uncovered his rogue record-keeping. 

The financial institution 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,” in line with a regulatory submitting.

Wall Street watchdog FINRA hit him with a lifetime ban on June 25 after he stonewalled their investigation, as nicely. It dropped the hammer on Cho after he refused to give up a single report.

“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 potential to register as a dealer or affiliate with any FINRA-member agency in any capability, citing flagrant violations of guidelines governing primary requirements of economic honor.

On his LinkedIn page that carries “he/him” pronouns, Cho bizarrely boasts that he has been “dedicated to client-centric service” throughout his almost 20 years within the business.

When federal prosecutors filed a two-count legal indictment within the Eastern District of New York, Cho instantly waived his proper to a trial and entered a straight responsible plea earlier than US District Judge Joan Azrack.

Under federal legislation, the rely of wire fraud carries a statutory most penalty of 20 years in jail, whereas the secondary rely of funding adviser fraud carries a statutory most of 5 years.

No court docket date for sentencing has been set, however Cho is free on bail after posting a $200,000 bond and surrendering his passport.

The authorities now calls for absolute restitution for the sufferer, who has not been named. Prosecutors plan to grab any luxurious property, jewellery or money tied to the fraud. 

If Cho has already spent his ill-gotten positive aspects, the federal government holds the correct to grab his substitute private property.

A Citi spokesperson mentioned: “In 2025, this individual was only employed for the last three months and he was subsequently terminated in early 2026.”

The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York declined to remark.

The Post has additionally sought remark from Ameriprise and Cho’s lawyer Norman Spencer.