In late December 2021 the United States Attorney’s Office announced that $454,945 recovered from the forfeited assets of Keenam “Kason” Parkto would be distributed to his victims.
Through his company EduBoston, Park collected tuition and other payments from students’ families for the 2019-2020 academic year but did not pay the tuition owed to partnering schools. Instead, he used the funds on unrelated expenses, including personal expenses. Park also caused EduBoston to collect advance tuition and other payments for the 2020-2021 academic year, which he failed to return to the students’ families after EduBoston went out of business in about September 2019.
In August 2020 Park was convicted of one count of wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud private high schools and international students of millions of dollars in tuition and other fees. In December 2020, Park was sentenced to five years in prison and three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay restitution of $7,332,407. The court also ordered forfeiture of assets in the amount of $7,332,407.
The US government pursued forfeiture of a number of Park’s assets, and seized bank accounts, a Lexus and other personal property, which resulted in the recovery. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said it will continue to pursue assets to compensate Park’s numerous victims.
EduBoston – links to US educational institutions
At the time of Park’s conviction, EduBoston was referenced as a partners on the websites of at least four US educational institutions.
The EduBoston YouTube channel remains live, and contains videos of over 20 US schools, identifying each as “an EduBoston partner school.”
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Source: United States Attorney’s Office, AgentBee