Drug Enforcement AdministrationLisette Lee, the “Pot Princess of Beverly Hills” who was arrested in 2010 for smuggling 7,000 pounds of marijuana between California and Ohio.
On June 14, 2010, the Drug Enforcement Administration received a tip from airport officials in Los Angeles about a suspicious plane that would be landing at Ohio’s Port Columbus International Airport later that day. Agents were waiting on the runway when the private jet arrived, perhaps expecting a big-time drug lord to disembark — but instead, Lisette Lee stepped onto the tarmac.
Wearing designer clothes, false eyelashes, and Chanel heels, Lee didn’t look like the typical drug smuggler. But inside her jet were 13 suitcases stuffed with more than 500 pounds of marijuana.
As Lee was placed under arrest, she insisted that she was a famous Korean model and the heiress to the Samsung fortune — the same thing she had been telling her friends in California for years. But as her subsequent trial began, it became clear that the “Pot Princess of Beverly Hills” wasn’t who she claimed to be.
This is the bizarre story of Lisette Lee, the “Korean Paris Hilton” who duped everyone around her.
The Life And Lies Of Lisette Lee
Little is known about the actual early life of Lisette Lee. She was born in South Korea but grew up in California, where she was still living as a young adult.
Lee told her friends in Los Angeles that she was famous back in Korea. She claimed that she was a Samsung heiress and a model who had appeared on the cover of Vogue. She insisted that she had dated celebrities like Channing Tatum, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Cristiano Ronaldo. Lee even said that she had bullied Paris Hilton in high school and graduated from Harvard before securing a high-level job in her family’s company.
Channel10AU/YouTubeLisette Lee presented herself as the “Korean Paris Hilton.”
As it would turn out, none of this was true. But there was one thing Lee wasn’t lying about: her wealth. She drove a purple Mercedes, had a bodyguard and a wardrobe full of designer clothes, and lived in some of the most luxurious apartments in Hollywood. In her own words, she was the “Korean Paris Hilton.”
That’s why David Garrett was perplexed when she asked him to join a drug trafficking operation with her.
Garrett was an acquaintance of Lee’s boyfriend who sold drugs in L.A., but he was surprised when Lee herself expressed interest in his business.
“It was weird,” Garrett told Rolling Stone in 2012, “’cause you wouldn’t think someone in her position would want to be anywhere near that type of lifestyle. But I took from it that maybe she was one of those rich girls that was bored.”
Lee and Garrett hatched a plan that would eventually make them millions — but it lasted just eight months before it all fell apart.
Becoming The ‘Pot Princess Of Beverly Hills’
Lisette Lee’s marijuana trafficking plot was fairly simple: Garrett would acquire the drugs, and they would pack them into suitcases, charter a private jet to Ohio, hand them over to a local distributor, and pocket the proceeds.
The first 13 trips went fairly smoothly. Lee recruited several friends — dubbed “Team LL” — to help move the suitcases, though she didn’t tell all of them what was really inside. When some of them began expressing doubts, Lee allegedly threatened them, telling them she had a hit man on speed dial and could put them under surveillance.
However, during the 14th trip on June 14, 2010, things took a turn. Employees at the airport in Van Nuys, where Lee loaded the private jet, grew suspicious. Lee had given them the same story — that she was making a big move to Ohio — several times.
Drug Enforcement AdministrationLisette Lee on the day of her arrest in June 2010.
Airport officials alerted the Drug Enforcement Administration in Ohio, and agents were waiting on the ground when Lee’s plane landed that day. When she saw them, Lee reportedly said, “What’s going on here? I’m a model.”
She claimed that she was transporting supplies to a horse farm in the area — but it was obvious what was inside the luggage. Authorities uncovered just over 500 pounds of marijuana bricks, as well as three cell phones, $6,500 in cash, and a bag of cocaine.
Lisette Lee was placed under arrest as she cried, “But what will I wear in jail?”
That should have been the least of her concerns. Her entire web of lies was about to unravel.
The True Background Of Lisette Lee
Lee was ultimately charged with trafficking 7,000 pounds of marijuana from California to Ohio over an eight-month period, bringing in up to $7 million in profits. She pleaded guilty, but not before her aunt testified under oath, revealing Lee’s fibs.
During a search of Lee’s apartment, investigators had uncovered a press release from Samsung regarding an event featuring “heiress” Lisette Lee. However, Samsung later announced that the document was fabricated.
According to Columbus news station WBNS, Samsung released a statement denying Lee’s connections to the company: “Contrary to some media reports, Lisette Lee is not an heiress of Samsung Electronics and is not a member of Samsung Lee’s family.”
The testimony of Lee’s aunt raised additional questions, though. The woman claimed that Lee was indeed the child of Corine Lee, a daughter of Samsung founder Byung-Chul Lee. But she had been born out of wedlock, and her father — Yoshi Morita — was a Japanese casino tycoon. Young Lisette would have caused a scandal, so she was adopted by family friends, who moved her to California.
Public DomainLisette Lee is reportedly the illegitimate granddaughter of Samsung founder Byung-Chul Lee.
Morita reportedly funded his daughter’s lifestyle, sending her up to $100,000 each month, but she seemingly had no legal connections to the Samsung family.
The rest of Lee’s lies crumbled from there. She hadn’t attended Harvard, she hadn’t dated Hollywood’s biggest movie stars, and she had never even met Paris Hilton.
Lisette Lee was sentenced to six years behind bars for her crimes. Her co-conspirators — even those who purportedly didn’t realize what was really going on — also faced prison time. One of them, Meily Cady, told Rolling Stone of Lee, “From the definitions I’ve read of ‘sociopath,’ her picture might as well be on Wikipedia.”
Prison didn’t seem to have much of an effect on Lee, though. From her cell, she told Rolling Stone, “I am utilizing this ‘vacation’ at the government resort as a learning experience, and polishing up my tennis and yoga. I’m truly loving it.”
Despite “loving it,” she did try to appeal her conviction in 2012. Per the Independent, Lee claimed that Garrett forced her into the crimes, threatening that he would physically harm her or her loved ones if she didn’t submit.
Drug Enforcement AdministrationThe 500 pounds of marijuana seized from Lisette Lee’s private jet on June 14, 2010.
However, the appeal also read: “Lee participated in the offense because she thought of it as an acting job in which she played a role of lead passenger. She also enjoyed getting away from Los Angeles.”
The appeal was denied, and Lisette Lee was released in 2017 after serving six years. She has stayed under the radar ever since. But the “Korean Paris Hilton” certainly left her mark on Hollywood — just not in the way she envisioned.
After reading about Lisette Lee, go inside the story of Barry Seal, Pablo Escobar’s drug smuggler who became a DEA informant. Then, learn how Tim Allen went from a cocaine-trafficking criminal to the star of Home Improvement.
The post How Lisette Lee Built A Fake Life As The ‘Korean Paris Hilton’ appeared first on All That’s Interesting.
