By Barbara A. Preston | Posted July 18, 2024
A Montgomery Township man is accused of embezzling more than $1.2 million from his employer over a four-year period, according to Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella. Montgomery police assisted in the arrest of Sang Park, 44, of Belle Mead at his home on July 17.
Park was charged with two counts of second-degree theft by deception according to the prosecutor’s office.
The Ridgefield Park Police Department in Bergen County had contacted the prosecutor’s office in December regarding an allegation of embezzlement at a company based in the municipality. Authorities did not release the name of the company.
The affidavit of probable cause identifies the employer as Seeger Weiss LLP, a law firm based in Ridgefield Park, founded in 1999, that represents individuals, organizations, and local municipalities that have been injured or defrauded on an individual or mass scale.
The firm's website notes that it has"the resources and dedication to take on the world’s largest corporations, and the firm has faced down the likes of Merck, Volkswagen, 3M, Syngenta, and the NFL—and secured justice for [its] clients."
Investigators determined that Park allegedly used various internal payroll and expense systems to manipulate his pay from 2018 through 2022. It further revealed that Park embezzled more than $1.2 million in company funds.
According to the complaint warrant, Park specifically conducted 83 payroll transactions totaling about $685,194 between May 2019 and July 2021, "in which he also submitted and approved fictitious reimbursement requests knowing these expenses were false."
In addition, Park also allegedly conducted 34 payroll transactions totaling about $569,573, "in which he impersonated another by using their employee administrative credentials to approve fictitious reimbursement requests via a computer expense reimbursement system knowing these expenses were false." This allegedly happened between July 2021 through February 2022.
The arrest is the result of the investigation, which was lead by Matthew Finck, a chief with the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office detectives' unit. The detectives, along with assistance from the Montgomery Township Police Department, arrested Park on July 17. Park was charged with two counts of second-degree theft by deception, N.J.S.A. 2C:20-4a.
Park was placed in the Bergen County Jail, then released on July 18 pending his first court appearance in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack. The charges constitute a criminal offense, the equivalent of a felony.
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Prosecutor Musella said that the charges are merely accusations and that the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Prosecutor Musella also thanked the Ridgefield Park Police Department and the Montgomery Police Department for their assistance in this investigation.
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