'70 Billion Embezzlement' Woori Bank Brothers Sentenced to 15 and 12 Years in Second Trial... Increased Sentences

A former Woori Bank employee and his accomplice brother, who were indicted on embezzlement charges involving approximately 70 billion won, were sentenced to heavy prison terms in the appellate court as well.

The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 2 (Presiding Judges Lee Won-beom, Han Ki-soo, Nam Woo-hyun) on the 11th sentenced former Woori Bank employee Jeon Mo (45) and his brother (43), who were charged with embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, to 15 years and 12 years in prison respectively. These sentences are heavier than the first trial, which had sentenced them to 13 years and 10 years respectively.

Accomplice Seo Mo was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year probation.

The court ordered the confiscation of approximately 33.2 billion won per person from the Jeon brothers, with about 5 billion won to be jointly confiscated. It also ordered the confiscation of about 1.4 billion won from Seo, who received the embezzled funds.

The court stated, "Jeon, who worked in Woori Bank's Corporate Improvement Department, embezzled hundreds of billions of won of company funds with his brother, and the circumstances of the crime are unfavorable, making a severe sentence inevitable," but also noted, "We considered as mitigating factors that he admitted to the crime and surrendered to the investigative authorities, and that he has no prior similar offenses."

Jeon is accused of embezzling a total of approximately 70.7 billion won of bank funds from March 2012 to February 2022 while working at Woori Bank, using the money for stock index option trading and other purposes. During this process, he is also accused of forging documents and conspiring with his brother to divert part of the embezzled funds to overseas paper company accounts.

Accomplice Seo is charged with violating the Act on the Regulation of Concealment of Criminal Proceeds by providing investment information to the Jeon brothers despite knowing that their money was criminal proceeds, and receiving about 1.6 billion won in return.