Orange County money manager Danny Pang, accused this week of defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars, was arrested Tuesday by FBI agents on suspicion of evading currency reporting laws.
According to an affidavit, the FBI focused on a series of check-cashing transactions at the East West Bank branch in El Monte. Pang's aim was to convert cash to gold bullion, which he tucked away in a safe concealed in a bedroom closet, the affidavit said.
Agents seized an undisclosed amount of gold during a search of Pang's Newport Beach home Tuesday, according to a law enforcement source who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Federal authorities consider Pang a flight risk, and the charge used to make the arrest Tuesday may not be the last action in the case. The arrest was part of a continuing investigation, said U.S. attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek. He declined to say whether additional charges would be brought or other suspects named.
The Justice Department's criminal complaint alleges that Pang sought to hide more than $300,000 from the government by asking relatives and employees to cash a series of checks from accounts he controlled for amounts less than $10,000 to avoid filing transaction reports.
Most of the checks were cashed by his personal assistant, the affidavit said.
The 42-year-old Pang, who first made headlines more than a decade ago when his wife was shot to death in their upscale Villa Park home, was accused this week by the Securities and Exchange Commission of defrauding investors, most of them from Taiwan.
The affidavit portrayed Pang as security-obsessed, noting that he installed several video cameras at his house in the gated Dover Shores community and surrounded himself with brawny associates.
Pang was meeting with his attorney, Allan H. Stokke, in Santa Ana when agents arrived and placed him under arrest, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eilmiller. Pang was taken to Santa Ana Jail, where he was expected to be held until a hearing today at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana, Eilmiller said.
Pang's lawyer said he had not had an opportunity to review the allegations and could not comment. He said Pang had recently returned to Orange County from China, knowing that an investigation was underway.
"He's not running away from it at all," Stokke said. "A person who is truly guilty might be tempted to stay in a foreign country where he might not be reachable."
