On February 7, Frank Seung Noah, 64, of Corona, California, pleaded guilty to defrauding his clients of more than $5 million and evading over $2.4 million in taxes. Noah, a customs broker and the owner of Comis International Inc., a Cerritos-based logistics company, admitted to one count of tax evasion and two counts of wire fraud.
From 2007 to 2019, Noah’s firm provided customs brokerage services to Daiso, a Japan-based retailer with U.S. locations. He used his position to falsify customs duty forms and invoices, inflating reimbursement requests. This led Daiso to overpay him by nearly $3.4 million.
Even after being indicted in 2022 for defrauding Daiso, Noah continued to deceive clients, fraudulently invoicing two companies for customs duties and keeping the funds for himself, instead of remitting them to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. To cover his tracks, he altered bank statements to make it appear that the payments had been made.
Noah also evaded federal taxes, causing a loss of approximately $2.4 million to the IRS. Despite agreeing in 2014 to pay over $1 million in taxes, Noah took steps to actively avoid IRS collection efforts. He made payments for two homes in his former girlfriend’s name, used check-cashing businesses to bypass IRS levies, and spent thousands on country club memberships, travel, and golf expenses.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed that Noah faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud count and up to five years for tax evasion. His sentencing hearing is pending.
