Story by Ethan
On December 18th, 2025, the arrest of Brandon Dae Up Kiehm, age 45, was announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr.. Brandon Dae Up Kiehm was charged with second-degree Grand Larceny. The arrest and charges against Brandon Dae Up Kiehm were a result of an investigation handled by detectives from the NYPD.
According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, sometime in 2019 the defendant and victim met each other after being matched on Bumble, an online dating app. On the app Brandon Dae Up Kiehm introduced himself to the victim as Dae Up Lee Kiehm, a finance professor who’d graduated from Stanford University. The two of them pursued what the victim believed to be a relationship, and they lived in her apartment together until 2021. In 2020 the defendant convinced the victim to purchase an auctioned off home on Decatur Street in Brooklyn, New York despite her not being able to attend due to being on a work trip abroad.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office stated that the charges against Brandon Dae Up Kiehm are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
