Ex JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs Exec Wanted to Launch Casino, Ended Up Gambling Instead

The story of Richard Kim, an ex-JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs executive, fascinates. Kim has been indicted on securities and wire fraud charges related to what prosecutors allege is his misappropriation of approximately $4 million worth of investor funds.

It Started with a Dream of an Online Gambling Company

The money was supposedly stolen to help him set up an online gambling company. Instead of doing that, however, Kim allegedly spent the money on gambling himself, making this case bizarre. Originally, Kim hoped to develop a blockchain and cryptocurrency-enabled gaming app that would have competed in the sector.

Called Zero Edge, the company never really moved forward and failed to deliver on its promised products, as Kim is alleged to have transferred company funds to his accounts and used them to gamble instead. Kim was suffering from gambling addiction at the time that he felt compelled to feed through any means necessary, a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2024 revealed.

The indictment was unsealed on Tuesday, and Kim is said to have siphoned off about $3.8 million of the original investors’ funds. The indictment obtained email correspondence between Kim and investors, in one of which he admitted that he was responsible for the loss of $3.67 million of those funds.

However, he said at the time that this was the result of business, and not tied to his gambling activity, which involved misappropriating investor funds in the first place. According to the indictment, Kim spent the money on a gambling website called Shuffle and was finally arrested on April 15, 2025.

He has shown both remorse and admitted to at least some of the facts. According to the US Attorney’s office, Kim said that what he did was wrong and unjustifiable. He was released on the same day as his arrest for a $250,000 bond.

What He Did Was “Wrong” and “Unjustifiable”

There are mitigating circumstances in Kim’s behavior and acts, however. In July 2024, he self-reported to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, stating that he had been negligent with investor funds, had ended up misusing them, but insisted that he had no fraudulent intent.

“Richard Kim misled investors by promising that he would build a blockchain-based casino gaming app, but ironically, Kim turned around and gambled away the very funds he said he would use to build a better casino,” Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a release.

There has been no comment on Kim’s indictment by his legal representatives at the time of reporting.