Prosecutors Appeal 30-Year Sentence for Ringleader of 'Guro Housing Cooperative Fraud' Gang

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Taewon] The prosecution has appealed the first trial verdict against a group sentenced to prison for deceiving about building regional housing cooperative apartments in Guro-gu, Seoul, and embezzling approximately 24 billion KRW from around 400 people.

On the 21st, the prosecution announced that it submitted an appeal to the court regarding the case of Ryu Mo (60), former CEO of the business agency, who was indicted on charges including breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. The prosecution explained, "Considering the very serious nature of the crime, having defrauded a large sum of 23.9 billion KRW from financially vulnerable citizens, the fact that the damages have not yet been recovered, and that the accused denies the crime and shows no remorse, we have decided to appeal."

Earlier, on the 15th, the Seoul Southern District Court Criminal Division 13 (Presiding Judge Lee Sangju) sentenced Ryu to 30 years in prison, and co-defendants Lee Mo (80) and Han Mo (60) to 12 years and 7 years in prison respectively. Additionally, the court ordered Ryu to pay a fine of 6,219,007,290 KRW and Lee to pay 5.5 million KRW. The court also ordered Ryu and Lee to pay 50 million KRW to the plaintiffs as compensation.

The court stated the sentencing rationale, saying, "Considering the economic circumstances and situations of the victims who prepared the cooperative membership fees through earned income or loans, the crime is very serious to the extent that it has plunged the victims' fate and future into ruin. Despite the victims expressing property damage, frustration, loss, and mental shock and pain, there was little effort made to recover the damages."

They were indicted on charges of embezzling a total of 23.9 billion KRW in contract fees from 477 victims by promoting that apartment move-in would be possible in 2021 after securing 60-80% of land use rights from November 2016 to September 2019. However, investigations revealed that the land they actually secured was only 20-30%. To obtain approval for establishing a regional housing cooperative, land use rights for at least 80% of the housing construction site area must be secured.