ICK JIN KIM, 52, and SUK HUI KIM, 45 of Mercer Island, Washington, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle yesterday to Failure to Keep Records, a misdemeanor. As part of the plea agreement the couple, who operate Jin's Trading & Distribution Co., Inc. agreed to forfeit $900,000 to the government – money they earned as the state's largest distributor of pseudoephedrine products in 1998-2000.

According to the plea agreement, in 1996 Jin's Trading began purchasing pseudoephedrine products from various distributors and then resold the products in multiple case quantities at a substantial mark up. Drivers would deliver the cases to retail stores. The couple also sold cases of pseudoephedrine directly from their warehouse in South Seattle. Because pseudoephedrine is a component in the manufacture of methamphetamine, a company such as Jin's Trading is required to keep records of the sales of pseudoephedrine and report those sales on their tax return. Between 1998 and 2000 the couple sold more than $2.8 million in pseudoephedrine, but failed to keep records and report it on their income tax return, Schedule C.

The plea agreement calls for the couple to serve three years of probation, with six months of electronic home monitoring. Magistrate Judge Mary Alice Theiler will be asked to approve the agreed upon sentence on September 7, 2005 at 10 AM.

The case was investigated by the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID).

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ye-Ting Woo and Todd Greenberg. For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney's Office, Western District of Washington at (206) 553-4110.

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