Computer Firm Rhombus Wins $5.3 Million for Employee Fraud

SANTA ANA — An Orange County Superior Court jury this week awarded a Huntington Beach company $5.3 million in damages after determining that a former executive had defrauded the company during the mid-1980s.

Jurors determined that defendant Kenneth K. Kim committed fraud and breach of contract during the mid-1980s by pocketing Rhombus Industries Inc. corporate funds while serving as chief operating officer of a Rhombus subsidiary in Korea.

Kim was ordered to pay $2.3 million in general damages and $3 million in punitive damages, said Susan Cameron Kelley, counsel for the plaintiff.

Kim, who was a U.S. citizen at the time, was hired to help operate the Korean subsidiary of Rhombus, a privately held computer components manufacturer. The Rhombus plant in Korea assembled computer parts that were then shipped back to the United States.

“After he converted our funds, he changed his citizenship to Korean,” said David Doke, Rhombus president. “This whole thing has been a real nightmare. . . . It’s a real Catch-22 as to whether we can collect.”

Kim’s attorneys are considering an appeal of the jury’s award, Kelley said.