‘Refund Suspension’ MergePlus CEO Siblings Indicted Again... Detention Extended

Prosecutors Filed Additional Fraud Charges on the 22nd of Last Month
Arrest Warrant Issued on the 1st
Warrant Issued Based on New Charges
Detention to Be Maintained for Up to 6 Months

Kwon Nam-hee, CEO of Merge Plus, attended the National Assembly's inspection of the Fair Trade Commission held by the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee on the 5th and responded to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Gyumin] The detention period of the sibling CEOs of Merge Plus, the operator of 'Merge Point,' who are accused of causing a large-scale refund suspension incident, has been extended.

According to the legal community on the 6th, the Seoul Southern District Court Criminal Division 11 (Chief Judge Seong Bogi) issued arrest warrants for Kwon Namhee (38), CEO of Merge Plus, and Kwon Bogun (35), Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), on charges of fraud.

The court is reported to have issued the warrants due to concerns over flight risk and evidence destruction.

The reason for the additional warrant issuance is that they are accused of embezzling approximately 14.2 billion KRW through Merge Plus's subscription model, the 'VIP Subscription Service.' The prosecution filed additional charges of fraud against them on the 22nd of last month.

Under the Criminal Procedure Act, the detention period from the time of indictment until the first trial verdict is up to six months. Their detention period was until the previous day, but since a new warrant was issued for charges not included in the original warrant, their detention can be maintained for up to six months until the first trial verdict is delivered.

They were brought to trial on charges of deceiving 560,000 victims by selling approximately 252.1 billion KRW worth of 'Merge Money' through a 'Ponzi scheme' business method from June 2018 to August last year.

They are also charged with operating an electronic payment agency business by recruiting members through a prepaid method without registering with the Financial Services Commission from January 2020 to August last year.

Kwon, the CSO, and his sibling, Kwon, CEO of Merge Office, are also accused of embezzling about 6.6 billion KRW of Merge Office funds for credit card payments, stock trading funds, and personal church donations.