US extradites Pound Ridge resident tied to 2014 South Korea ferry disaster

A South Korean business magnate whose case was turned away by the U.S. Supreme Court was extradited back to South Korea early Thursday morning, resolving much of a years-long legal battle over the man’s whereabouts, arrest and attempted prosecution by the South Korean government.

Korean Air confirmed that Keith Yoo, who is also known as Hyuk Kee Yoo, checked into the 12:50 a.m. flight to Seoul.

Just hours earlier, the U.S. Marshals Service picked up Yoo from Putnam County Jail, a corrections officer said, where he had been incarcerated pending the Biden administration’s final decision on his extradition.

Yoo, a resident of Pound Ridge, New York, fought for years to oppose his extradition to South Korea, which is seeking to prosecute him on embezzlement charges related to the April 2014 Sewol ferry disaster that killed 306 people, including hundreds of high school students.

In court filings, attorneys for Yoo say that he is unable to receive a fair trial in South Korea because the government “harbors significant animus against the Yoo family.”

Prosecutors say ferry was crammed beyond capacity

South Korean prosecutors allege that Yoo, along with members of his family, embezzled more than $23 million from the family's business empire. Prosecutors argue that the Sewol sank, in part, because its corporate operators crammed the ship well beyond capacity to cover for the company's flagging financial condition, itself owed to the alleged embezzlement scheme.

Prosecutors said that part of the alleged scheme involved Yoo siphoning money from affiliates within the business empire for consulting services that were never actually provided to the affiliate companies.

Shawn Naunton, one of Yoo's attorneys, called South Korea's handling of the case an "improper political prosecution disguised as the pursuit of alleged financial crimes."

"We have fought Keith’s extradition vigorously for three years because Keith is innocent," he said in a statement. "He will not receive a fair trial in South Korea because the administration of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye falsely slandered Keith as a fugitive."

Naunton further suggested that Yoo could face torture if incarcerated in South Korea.

Picked up at Putnam County Jail

Yoo had been living in the United States for decades and has been associated with multiple New York residences, including the home in Pound Ridge.

After his arrest in 2020 at South Korea’s request, Yoo was incarcerated first in Westchester and then at Putnam County Jail, where the U.S. Marshals Service picked him up Wednesday night.

A federal court ruled in 2021 that Yoo could be sent back to South Korea, prompting Naunton to file a petition seeking to block the transfer. The petition was eventually denied, a decision that was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Yoo later asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the case, a request that was ultimately rejected.

Once the U.S. State Department elected to proceed with the extradition, another emergency application was filed, and rejected, effectively clearing the final hurdle for the extradition to proceed.

Naunton argued in court filings that the State Department only acted after sitting for years on South Korea’s extradition request, casting doubt on the urgency of extraditing his client while appeals are pending.

The head of the company that operated the ferry was convicted shortly after the disaster on related charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Several other relatives of Yoo have been prosecuted and convicted on embezzlement charges.

Park Geun-hye, South Korea's president during the disaster, said at the time that the Yoo family "is inviting the ire of the people by flouting the law rather than repenting before the people and helping reveal the truth."

Asher Stockler is a reporter for The Journal News and the USA Today Network New York. You can find him on Twitter at @quasiasher or send him an email at astockler@lohud.com. Reach him securely: asher.stockler@protonmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: US extradites NY resident tied to 2014 South Korea ferry tragedy