[Seocho-dong Legal Story] Posing as a Wealthy Heiress... Mid-sized Company CEO Swindled Out of 7.2 Billion Won Over 10 Years

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] "I will inherit 14.5 billion KRW from my stepfather in the United States. I plan to secure a loan using the 18 billion KRW revenue of a translation and interpretation company as collateral."

In 2010, translator Ms. B (female, then 27 years old) who had built a friendship with Mr. A (male, then 51 years old), the CEO of a domestic mid-sized semiconductor company, began borrowing money from him, saying, "Please lend me money for living expenses and credit card bills." She reassured him by showing related documents, claiming she could raise large sums from her American stepfather 'Jeon Mo' and 'Linda,' the operator of a world-class translation and interpretation company who supported her behind the scenes.

Over ten years, Ms. B borrowed a total of 7.2 billion KRW from Mr. A. Trusting that "she would repay someday," Mr. A borrowed money from acquaintances to lend to Ms. B and ended up losing most of his assets.

The problem was that all of Ms. B's claims were false. She had debts of 200 million KRW and a monthly income of about 1 million KRW, which was not stable. Her stepfather and Linda were fictitious, and the documents she showed were fabricated. Ms. B spent over 5 billion KRW buying 37 imported cars, and the 3.3 billion KRW she earned from reselling the vehicles was all squandered on living expenses, cosmetics, and loans to acquaintances.

However, Mr. A repeatedly believed Ms. B's claims such as "My father passed away, so I need to prepay inheritance tax" (2014), "I need money to open an account where 18 billion KRW in company revenue is deposited" (2017), and "I will repay the borrowed money by taking a 10 billion KRW loan from American loan shark Mr. P" (2019), and continued lending her money. Of course, both the 18 billion KRW revenue and Mr. P were fictitious.

Eventually, Mr. A filed a lawsuit against Ms. B and petitioned for severe punishment during the trial. On the other hand, Ms. B claimed in court, "I did not deceive Mr. A. I borrowed only 500 million KRW and repaid it all, and the rest was payment for translation and interpretation services provided to Mr. A's company." However, she also stated "All translation results and related materials have been deleted and no longer exist."

On the 24th, Chief Judge Kim Changhyung of the 29th Criminal Division at the Seoul Central District Court recently sentenced Ms. B, who was indicted on charges of violating the Specific Economic Crimes Act (fraud) and forgery and use of private documents, to 9 years in prison and ordered her immediate detention.

The court stated, "She claims to have received about 6.5 billion KRW as translation and interpretation fees, but only provides vague and fragmentary statements and cannot specifically describe the detailed work." The court also criticized her, saying, "She appears to have lived a lavish lifestyle with the money defrauded from the victim but consistently offers implausible excuses and shows no remorse."

However, the court added, "The victim also bears some responsibility for increasing the damage by carelessly trusting the defendant's words and paying large sums without thoroughly verifying the circumstances."