[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A man in his 20s who fabricated false stories about his family being in a difficult situation to borrow hundreds of millions of won from acquaintances, mostly using the money for gambling and failing to repay it, was sentenced to prison in the first trial.
According to the legal community on the 7th, Judge Yoo Donggyun of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 13 recently sentenced A (29) to 1 year and 4 months in prison on charges of fraud. He was also ordered to compensate some victims a total of over 80 million won.
In 2019, A was prosecuted on charges of embezzling a total of 55.56 million won in 27 installments from B, whom he befriended during his social service work, by saying, "Due to my mother's business failure, the house is about to be auctioned off, but if you lend me money, I will repay it within a month."
He was also charged with failing to repay a total of 88.71 million won sent by his university friend C in the same year after saying, "I urgently need money for my mother's hospital bills, etc.," and "I will repay it by selling the house or taking out a loan in my sister's name."
Moreover, it was investigated that from 2018 to 2019, he borrowed a total of 300 million won from five acquaintances by lying that "a family member died," and mostly used it for gambling or repaying personal debts. At that time, he had no special income and was found to have had no intention or ability to repay the money from the beginning.
The court pointed out, "A pretended to be in a desperate situation and deceived victims who were friends or former colleagues over a considerable period, abusing their goodwill, and used a significant portion of the embezzled money for gambling funds, etc." However, "He admits his wrongdoing and has no prior criminal record. Some of the damages have been repaid, and a settlement agreement with C has been submitted. Considering these and other sentencing factors, the sentence was determined," the court added.
Meanwhile, both the prosecution and the defendant have filed appeals against this ruling.
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