Mercedes Schneider writes here about an outrageous financial scam in Wisconsin and Minnesota that was inflicted on members of the Hmong community.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against a Hmong woman who had made extravagant promises to investors, then defrauded them.
On April 13, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges against Wisconsin resident, Kay Yang, for “conduct[ing] a fraudulent investment scheme targeting members of the Hmong-American communities in Wisconsin and Minnesota.”
Schneider goes into the details, and she points out that the same financial advisor counseled a Hmong charter school to invest the school’s endowment in a risky fund. Unfortunately, they took her advice, although the school leaders violated Minnesota law by making a risky investment with the school’s funds.
There is another twist in Yang’s story, one that the April 13, 2022, Twin Cities Pioneer Press captures as it alludes to Yang as “having ties to a St. Paul (MN) charter school board”:
Kay Yang has been described in a separate legal matter as a “close personal friend” of Christianna Hang, founder and former superintendent of Hmong College Prep Academy, one of Minnesota’s largest charter schools.
Hang was looking to invest some of the school’s money in May 2019 when Yang referred her to Woodstock Capital LLC, a hedge fund based in London.
That fall, Hang wired Woodstock $5 million in school funds, in violation of state statutes that limit what schools may invest in. Eighteen months later, just $700,000 remained.
The school now is suing Woodstock, alleging its investment either was stolen or badly mismanaged.
Woodstock called the loss a matter of bad timing, saying the coronavirus pandemic made it “possibly the worst time in recent world history for investments such as those made by hedge funds in general.”
Hang and her husband, chief operating officer Pao Yang, resigned from the school at the end of last year with a combined $350,000 in separation payments.
No criminal or civil enforcement charges have been filed in the charter school matter.
The school gambled away its $5 million
Wow.
Through her foolishness, Hang lost $4.3Mof the $5M of HCPA’s money.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Why have we not read of the fraud in Public education? The liberal media covering it up? The lack of oversight?
Hardly. Those of us who keep books in Public school have to submit to an audit. Pretty simple. As a matter of fact, almost all real fraud happens in the private sector. Remember those $750 hammers we got so exercised about back in the day? Private sub-contractors.
Mercedes Schneider is an awesome human! Thanks, Mercedes!
“Hang and her husband, chief operating officer Pao Yang, resigned from the school at the end of last year with a combined $350,000 in separation payments.”
The $350,000 combined separation payment added to that charter schools losses.
Geeze, wouldn’t it be great if everyone that resigned (quit) a job for any reason even alleged fraud or extreme incompetence, ended up with a separation payment like that one?
It would have taken my five years of teaching (what I was earning after 30 years in the classroom) to earn that much money and that’s based on gross earnings, not net after annual taxes and fees are subtracted. I wonder if they will pay any taxes on that $350,000.
In November 2019, two months after making the illegal $5M Woodstock hedge fund investment, HCPA began the process of applying for $33 million in conduit revenue bond financing through two City of St Paul agencies, the St Paul Port Authority and the city’s Housing and Redevelopment Agency. Less than one year later, in August 2020, HCPA was approved for, and received the $33 million in bonds. At no time during that application process did HCPA notify officials of St Paul about the illegal $5M Woodstock hedge fund investment, which records show that in August 2020 had fallen below 1M in values. Instead, in an unofficial, in-house audit report, it was listed as a $5M cash investment. See attached link for my additional story about this.
https://www.monitorsaintpaul.com/stories/hcpas-new-middle-school-and-skyway-bridge-raise-serious-questions-about-financing,4875?