Twin brothers who ran a controversial business that reserved and resold thousands of tee times at Southern California golf courses pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal tax crimes, admitting they failed to report income from the operation.
At a court hearing in downtown Los Angeles, Se Youn “Steve” Kim pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return, while his brother, Hee Youn “Ted” Kim, pleaded guilty to tax evasion. Their plea agreements say the brothers had more than $1.3 million in combined unreported income from the tee-time business and other sources.
Both brothers admitted they failed to report income from the tee-time business, though the agreements do not fully quantify that income. Steve Kim admitted omitting more than $27,500 in earnings from his 2021 return.
They also admitted to falsely claiming exemptions from federal income-tax withholding while working as MRI technicians.
The plea agreements call for the brothers to pay at least $581,616 in restitution for tax losses that include years before the tee-time business began.
The brothers, who remain out on bond, are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 12. Ted Kim faces up to five years in federal prison, while Steve Kim faces a maximum of three years. Both men and their lawyers declined to comment after entering their pleas.
Federal prosecutors previously alleged that by quickly nabbing popular early morning tee times almost immediately after they were available to the public, the brothers had “created a monopoly” over Southern California golf courses.
The guilty pleas came shortly after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation barring third-party brokers from advertising, selling or transferring tee-time reservations at publicly owned golf courses without the written consent of the course operator.
The legislation followed growing complaints that brokers were obtaining reservations at Los Angeles municipal courses and reselling them, often advertising slots through social media, including the Korean messaging app KakaoTalk.
In their plea agreements, the Kim brothers admitted that, beginning around 2021, they reserved thousands of slots at numerous L.A.-area golf courses and resold them to members of the public for a fee.
The indictment against them alleged that their tee-time brokering business brought in nearly $700,000 from 2021 through 2023. The plea agreements do not specify how much of the brothers’ combined unreported income came from that business.
The Times previously reported the prevalence of tee-time brokering, in which scores of local golfers shared frustrations over their inability to secure a tee time on public courses in L.A.
In a brief interview with The Times in 2024, Ted Kim said that he used as many as five devices and relied on unspecified friends to secure tee times. He said he competed on the same playing field as other L.A. golfers and did not use bots to game the system.
“It’s not like I’m taking advantage of technology. I’m booking myself,” Ted Kim told The Times. “I’m not doing anything illegal.”
