A Maryland woman who had gambled away nearly $ 1.5 million in funds from the elite dance school where she was the inspector pleaded guilty to fraud in Washington District Court Thursday.
The plea is the second time in 8 years that Sophia Kim has been successfully charged with stealing from dance organizations with links to the Unification Church.
Ms. Kim, 60, was hired in 2017 to serve as director of the Kirov Academy of Ballet, a school founded in 1990 by Rev. Sun Myung Moon to promote what he called “the heavenly art of dance” and to be creative point of sale for his daughter-in-law, a former member of the Washington Ballet.
At its peak in the early 2000s, the school featured nearly a dozen top ballet dancers each year, including some who continue to direct the American Ballet Theater, the National Ballet of Canada, and other leading companies.
According to an affidavit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ms. Kim was playing with funds she oversaw as the academy’s inspector. Over a nine month period in 2018, investigators found Ms. Kim wrote checks to herself and used her Academy debit card 120 times to withdraw cash and record losses at the MGM Grand Casino near her home in Temple Hills, Md.
When the school discovered the lack of funds, they reported Ms. Kim to the FBI and she was arrested at the casino in November 2019.
“Kim treated her company’s funds as her personal bank account,” said Timothy Thibault, assistant special agent for the crime department at the FBI’s Washington branch, in a statement announcing the guilty plea.
Last year, Ms. Kim said in an interview that she never intended her gambling to hurt the academy.
Ms. Kim joined the Unification Church as a teenager in South Korea, immigrated to the United States, and married a Church attorney. They settled in Northern Virginia, and after raising three children, Ms. Kim was hired as an accountant at Kirov. She later moved to the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation, a church-based nonprofit group that donated money to the Kirov, Little Angels children’s dance group, and the Seoul-based Universal Ballet.
In 2013, Ms. Kim, also known as Sookyeong Kim Sebold, was found guilty of misappropriating foundation funds that were largely lost in New Jersey casinos. She was imprisoned for two years. After her release, Ms. Kim was hired as the academy’s inspector, a decision the school did not discuss. On Friday, academy officials did not respond to a request for comment on Ms. Kim’s request.
The Kirov is now both a music school and a dance academy and is headquartered in a former convent near the Catholic University in Washington District Court in Washington on Thursday.
The plea was the second time in 8 years that Ms. Kim had been found guilty of stealing dance organizations with ties to the Unification Church.
Ms. Kim, 60, was hired in 2017 to serve as director of the Kirov Academy in Washington, a school founded in 1990 by Rev. Sun Yyung Moon to promote what he called “the heavenly art of dance.” and to serve as a creative medium for his daughter-in-law, former member of the Washington Ballet.
At its peak in the early 2000s, it found that the school produced nearly a dozen top ballet dancers each year, including some who continue to direct the American Ballet Theater, the National Ballet of Canada, and other leading companies.
According to an affidavit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ms. Kim was playing with funds she oversaw as the academy’s inspector. Over a nine-month period in 2018, investigators said, Ms. Kim wrote checks to herself and used her Academy debit card 120 times to withdraw cash and make losses at the MGM Grand Casino near her home in Temple Hills, Maryland, balance.
When the school discovered the lack of funds, they reported Ms. Kim to the FBI and she was arrested at the casino in November 2019.
“Kim treated her company’s funds as her personal bank account,” said Timothy Thibault, assistant special adviser for the FBI’s Washington Field Office crime department, in a statement declaring the guilty plea.
Last year, Ms. Kim said in an interview that she never intended her gambling to hurt the academy.
Ms. Kim joined the Unification Church as a teenager in Korea, immigrated to the United States, and married a Church attorney. They settled in Northern Virginia, and after raising three children, Ms. Kim was hired as an accountant at Kirov. She later moved to the Korean Cultural and Freedom Foundation, a church-based non-profit organization that donated money to the Kirov, the children’s dance group The Little Angels, and the Seoul-based Universal Ballet.
In 2013, Ms. Kim, also known as Sookyeon Kim Sebold, was found guilty of embezzling money from the Foundation, and most of it was lost at New Jersey casinos. She was imprisoned for two years. After her release, Ms. Kim was hired as the academy’s inspector, a decision the school did not discuss. On Friday, academy officials did not respond to a request for comment on Ms. Kim’s request.
The Kirov is now a music school and dance academy and is headquartered in the former monastery near the Catholic University.
Acting US District Attorney Channing D. Phillips said, “We have no tolerance for criminals to raid the coffers of the companies and institutions that make our district great.”
The fraud charge carries a legal sentence of up to thirty years in prison and a fine of up to $ 3 million, double the Academy’s losses. Ms. Kim’s sentencing is scheduled for September.
