Eugene Hyunwook Kim (CRD #2264940, Moorestown, New Jersey)

July 11, 2023 – Kim was named a respondent in a FINRA complaint alleging that he engaged in unethical conduct, acted in bad faith, and misused customer funds in connection with a private placement offering sold by his member firm. The complaint alleges that Kim proposed to his firm’s commitment committee that the firm initiate a private placement offering through a firm-affiliated fund for shares in a private company at a maximum price-per-share of $9.75. At the time Kim submitted the offering for approval, he had not confirmed a source of shares for the offering at any price. The firm approved the offering, and sales representatives solicited investors and distributed offering documents stating the sole purpose of the offering was to invest in the shares at a maximum price of $9.75 share. Ultimately, customers invested a total of $4.055 million. Prior to closing on escrow, Kim did not source shares for the offering at any price, let alone a maximum share price of $9.75. However, instead of refunding investors, Kim initiated the closing of escrow for the offering and received a $16,220 commission. During the following months, Kim actively misled firm principals, representatives, and, indirectly, customers, into believing that the fund had purchased shares at the maximum share price. 10 months after the offering’s closing, Kim purchased a limited number of shares at an average price of $20.22. Even then, over $1 million in investor capital remained in cash, as Kim was unable to find enough shares to purchase with the customers’ investments. Ultimately, Kim’s firm uncovered his misconduct and notified investors that they had not, in fact, purchased shares at the maximum share price. Instead, investors owned shares at a higher price and some of their funds had not been used to purchase the company shares at all. (FINRA Case #2019064508802)