A Doraville business owner was sentenced Wednesday to one year and one day in federal prison for offering bribes to city employees in an attempt to get his property re-zoned.
Jae Jun Bae, 35, of Duluth, pleaded guilty April 3 to one count of honest services wire fraud. In addition to prison time, Bae was ordered to pay $1,000 and serve 200 hours of community service.
“Bae opened his wallet looking to circumvent the law,” U.S. Attorney Sally Yates said in a press release. “What he found was a felony conviction and a prison cell.”
Bae is the owner of Moon Lingerie on Buford Highway. He bought the commercial building, zoned for retail, in April 2012 but wanted to use the property as a wholesale location, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In August of the same year, he met with a city employee and offered cash in exchange for re-zoning the property.
The employee turned down the bribe and reported him, and in October 2013, Bae tried bribery again, Yates said.
He asked to meet with a member of the city’s Community Development Department. The member reported the request to authorities, based on Bae’s actions the previous year. At the Oct. 17 meeting, Bae offered the staff member, who was accompanied by an undercover officer, about $100,000 to re-zone the property, authorities said.
The amount was later renegotiated down to around $70,000, and on Oct. 29, Bae made a $5,000 deposit to the city staffer and a day later $3,000 to the undercover officer to secure a vote in favor of his re-zoning application, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
He was arrested in November 2013.
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