Indicted suspect, 42, dies

Embattled Newport Beach financier Danny Pang died early Saturday morning at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, an official from the Orange County Coroner said.

Police received a call from Pang’s Newport Beach home in the Dover Shores area for medical assistance about 3:30 p.m. Friday, and paramedics took him to the hospital, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Doug Jones, who had no further information about the call.

The police department’s online logs show officers responded to a call of a dead body in Pang’s neighborhood at 3:41 p.m. Friday.

Pang, 42, died at 5:12 a.m. Saturday at Hoag, said Larry Esslinger, supervising Orange County deputy coroner. The cause of Pang’s death was not immediately known, but an autopsy is scheduled for today, Esslinger said.

An Orange County federal grand jury indicted Pang in July on criminal charges of evading currency reporting laws.

Pang had been forced to wear an electronic monitoring device on his ankle and was confined to his home in Newport Beach before his death.

In April, FBI agents arrested Pang on federal charges that he structured cash payments to keep them under $10,000; amounts exceeding that limit require a report to be filed with the federal government.

Pang was the founder and former chief executive of the Irvine-based firms Private Equity Management Group Inc., and Private Equity Management Group LLC.

The Securities and Exchanged Commission obtained an emergency court order earlier this year freezing the assets of Pang and his companies, alleging they bilked investors out of millions by misrepresenting investments in seniors’ life insurance polices and time share real estate.

The criminal complaint accuses Pang of using his employees to cash checks for amounts less than $10,000 to avoid the filing of currency transaction reports, which financial institutions are required to file for all currency transactions that are more than $10,000.

Charles Sipkins, a spokesperson for the Pang family, issued a statement on their behalf on Saturday.

“Danny was a wonderful husband, loving father, and honest businessman. For the past 5 months, Danny was subjected to a relentless attack of innuendo and false allegations, and was denied any opportunity to defend himself,” the statement read.

“It is distressing that Danny had to endure such a mean-spirited assault on his character and reputation, and the seizure of all his property, without ever having been found liable of anything and without ever having a chance to defend himself,” it continued. “We remain steadfast in our belief that Danny would have been vindicated if he had been given that opportunity.”