In 1980, when Sung was almost 9, his mother accepted a friend's invitation to come to America. She left her husband behind and moved with Sung to Seattle. With a small loan, she bought a grocery store. When Sung wasn't at school, he was at work in the store, she said. Later she bought a motel, where he worked long hours every day.

“Even in high school and middle school,” she wrote, “Lawrence worked till 4 in the morning [at] the front desk of the motel. Most of my clients were drug addicts and hookers, and when they had no food, Lawrence would make them rice and kimchi.”

Hong went on to take classes in finance at Seattle University. “I nagged him constantly to make more money and provide for me,” the mother recalled. “When he started making money, I finally told him I loved him and was proud of him.”

Frush, Hong's attorney, asked the court to consider his client’s upbringing in deciding a proper sentence.

“Some victims were horribly treated, there is no question,” he conceded in a sentencing brief. “However, for some individuals Lawrence actually made money and, at times, made money for himself. Instances of direct misappropriation were present but not consistent or prevalent.” Frush also noted that losses by the two largest investors amounted to about half of the stolen money — one was stung for more than $3 million. They were “both sophisticated and knowledgeable about Lawrence’s criminal record,” he said, though it wasn’t clear why that should be a mitigating factor in sentencing.

What is clear is that millions were stolen in comparatively smaller amounts. One of the victims was an unnamed church that lost $300,000. Another was a minister who was duped out of $55,000. The minister told federal prosecutors in a letter, “The trauma is felt not just financially, but emotionally and spiritually.”

Other victims — identified only by their initials — described their losses as life-altering. Wrote one couple, P.N. and J.N., “The Hongs presented themselves as devout Christians and had all the lingo to go with it. We felt good about them and believed them.” But “As a result of the Hongs’ crimes we no longer have any money left to invest. Our retirement funds are completely gone. We are trying to rebuild our assets and [P.N.] is working 70 hours per week in his mortgage business and doing this at 79 years of age.”

Investor K.G. wrote that “what caused me to trust them even more was the fact that they presented themselves as Christians, and they had ties to ministers and Christian leaders that I personally know and highly respect.” One couple, S.Q. and J.Q., stated that the con “greatly affected our marriage and relationships with our family, and the church community. We have been dealing with issues of anger, shame, and regret from being victimized by the Hongs.”

Prosecutors pointed out the couple chose to overlook the harm they could do to their own family, children included. The three kids today are with Hong's elderly mother, but, at almost 90, she can't properly care for them, said Hong's attorney. Attempts are being made to place the children with family friends and others in Korea. So far, no takers.

“There admittedly will be a significant impact on the Hongs’ children, and any negative consequence is regrettable,” the two prosecutors said in their sentencing recommendation. “However, those consequences flow entirely from the Hongs’ own misconduct — a natural and foreseeable byproduct of their decisions to engage in a years-long, multimillion-dollar fraud, all to indulge an extravagant lifestyle few can legitimately afford.” For that matter, they added, “the Hongs also victimized the children of those who invested with them, and there will be long-lasting effects on those children.”

If Hong is released after 15 years — 2033, when he would turn 62 — he'll likely spend the remainder of his life paying back his victims or their survivors. After his cars, valuables and other property were seized for auction, he was left with, the court ruled, exactly $12,726,352.67 due in restitution. Twenty-five percent of whatever he earns monthly as a prisoner will go to the victims and after he is freed he will be obligated to pay at least 10 percent of his earnings monthly as a free man.

That sounds like a permanent obligation. And, of course, it must be paid with legitimate earnings. Prosecutors expressed doubts about that. There was little hope Hong could be reformed, even by a long sentence, they said, pointing out that when he was arrested for the 2007 fraud against a neighbor, he wasted no time finding his next target — a fellow Korean inmate at the federal detention center in SeaTac, where Hong was awaiting trial.

Hong talked the inmate into persuading his mother to send $300,000, then $100,000 more, from Korea to Hong's bank as a hedge fund investment. Hong, pressured by the inmate, eventually returned some of the money, though prosecutors couldn't document how much.

Hong, they said, was “a career con man, a recidivist in the truest sense of the word ... with absolutely no moral compass and driven by only one thing — pure, unadulterated greed.”