The owner of a lingerie store has been charged with trying to bribe Doraville officials to get his property rezoned.
Jae Jun Bae, who owns Moon Lingerie, was ensnared in an undercover sting after a city official he initially tried to bribe went to federal authorities, a criminal complaint alleges. He was recently released from custody after posting $10,000 bond.
“We’re actively trying to investigate the facts as quickly as we can,” Bae’s lawyer, Drew Findling, said Wednesday. “I will say there are language issues.”
Doraville Mayor Donna Pittman, citing an ongoing investigation, declined to comment.
In April 2012, when Bae bought his commercial building on Buford Highway, his property was only zoned for retail sales. But the businessman later submitted an application to Doraville to have the property rezoned to allow him to use it as a wholesale operation, FBI Special Agent Christy Parker said in a Nov. 15 affidavit.
In August 2012, authorities received a complaint that Bae tried to give an envelope of cash to a Doraville city employee, ostensibly in an effort to get his property rezoned, Parker wrote. This past October, when Bae asked to meet with an employee of the city’s Community Development Organization, that employee reported Bae’s request to law enforcement.
On Oct. 17, Bae met with the city employee, who was not identified by Parker, and an undercover FBI agent posing as a city official, Parker wrote. During this meeting, Bae agreed to pay about $100,000 to have his property rezoned, the affidavit alleges.
The next day, at a coffeehouse in Dunwoody, Bae renegotiated the $100,000 price down to $76,000, Parker said.
On Oct. 28, Bae allegedly met the undercover agent at an Atlanta hotel to discuss making quarterly payments. Bae also used an application on his cellphone to translate his native Korean to English.
“Money for tax,” the phone’s translation said, according to the affidavit. “Money paid to superior. Pay a regular bribe.”
The next day, Bae met with the undercover agent and the city employee at a retail parking lot in Norcross and handed over $5,000, Parker wrote. On Oct. 30, Bae met the undercover agent at a hotel parking lot and handed over $3,000, the affidavit says.
On Nov. 14, agents arrested Bae. He agreed to talk to the FBI and admitted handing over the initial $8,000 in bribes, acknowledged doing so to get his property rezoned and said he knew making the payments was wrong, Parker wrote.
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