Former Senior Analyst at the Fed of Chicago Pleads Guilty to Stealing Sensitive Financial Data

[nitpicker]

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/former-senior-analyst-federal-reserve-bank-chicago-pleads-guilty-stealing-sensitive


Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Northern District of Illinois

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Former Senior Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Pleads Guilty to Stealing Sensitive Financial Data


CHICAGO — A former senior analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago admitted in federal court today that he stole confidential financial documents from the bank shortly before resigning his position and accepting a new job.

JEFFREY CHO, 35, of Chicago, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of theft of property. The conviction carries a maximum sentence of one year in federal prison. U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael T. Mason scheduled a sentencing hearing for June 21, 2016, at 10:00 a.m.

In his role as a Senior Supervision Analyst, Cho had access to sensitive, proprietary and valuable information belonging to the bank. The information included financial data and materials relating to the bank’s responsibility to monitor the health of certain financial institutions in the United States.

According to a written plea agreement, Cho was in discussions in May 2015 to take a new job outside of the bank. Less than a week before accepting the outside company’s employment offer, Cho printed a confidential Federal Reserve document from his work computer and took it home with him. After accepting the offer on May 12, 2015, Cho printed an additional 31 confidential Federal Reserve documents from his work computer and brought those home as well. On the same day he resigned from the bank on May 26, 2015, Cho printed 3 more proprietary Federal Reserve documents from his work computer and brought them home.
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The conviction prohibits Cho from directly or indirectly participating in the affairs of any United States financial institution for at least ten years.