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Prosecutors: Former Montgomery Co. official embezzled millions from county

He'll be sentenced next year.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Prosecutors originally released a photo that was not of Byung II Bang, the image has now been updated.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. -- A former Montgomery Co. official embezzled $6.7 million from the county, according to federal prosecutors.

Former chief operating officer for the county’s Department of Economic Development Byung II Bang pleaded guilty to wire fraud and false statements on a tax return on Friday.

The scheme, which allegedly went on for several years, was only caught when large cash transactions Bang made in casinos were investigated by the IRS.

Bang was allegedly a compulsive gambler, who lost all of the money who embezzled at casinos in Las Vegas, West Virginia and Delaware.

To hide the scheme, Bang set up fake bank accounts that appeared to belong to a South Korean municipality seeking to develop business in Montgomery County.

In fact, it was all a sham.

Bang would request money from economic and tourism development agencies that thought they were supporting efforts to bring foreign development to the county.

In reality, Bang was taking all the money.

This is all from court documents and federal prosecutors.

Bang has agreed to pay back $6.7 million to Montgomery County and more than $2 million to the IRS.

He’ll be sentenced next year. He’ll also be seeking treatment for a “gambling addiction.”

Neither the Koreans nor the agencies knew about the fraud until the IRS caught Bang for not reporting gambling transactions.

The money embezzled from the county was meant to grow local businesses.

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