Hefty sentences have been confirmed for a former Woori Bank employee and his accomplice brother who were tried on charges of embezzlement involving approximately 70 billion KRW.
The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Oh Seok-jun) on the 12th dismissed the appeals of both the prosecution and the former Woori Bank employee Jeon and his brother, who were indicted for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (embezzlement). The court upheld the original sentence of 15 years imprisonment for Jeon and 12 years imprisonment for his brother, along with an order to confiscate approximately 33.2 billion KRW.
Accomplice Seo, who was charged with receiving about 1.6 billion KRW as compensation for providing investment information despite knowing the money was criminal proceeds (violation of the Act on the Regulation of Concealment of Criminal Proceeds), received a confirmed sentence of 1 year and 6 months imprisonment with a 3-year probation.
The court explained the reason for dismissing the Jeon brothers’ appeal, stating, "There is no error in the original judgment regarding the legal principles on embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, property concealment abroad, and confiscation under the Act on the Confiscation of Corrupt Property that would affect the verdict."
Additionally, the court dismissed the prosecution’s appeal, stating, "Some of the defendants’ charges were deemed time-barred and thus dismissed. Among the confiscation targets claimed by the prosecution, only the defendants and some participants were subject to confiscation reflecting the dismissal. There was no error or omission in the original judgment regarding the principles of comprehensive offenses, the benefit of appeal in criminal trials, or confiscation under the Act on the Confiscation of Corrupt Property that would affect the verdict."
The court also upheld the confiscation amount of 72.4 billion KRW ordered by the lower court. The confiscation amount includes 33.2 billion KRW for the Jeon brothers (partially jointly confiscated), 1.4 billion KRW for Seo, and 4.6 billion KRW for Jeon’s family members and other participants.
However, among the confiscation amount the Jeon brothers must pay, 5 billion KRW of assets hidden overseas is jointly liable, so if fully paid, the total confiscation amount is expected to reach 67.4 billion KRW.
Jeon, who was in charge of workout and sale operations for management-targeted companies within Woori Bank’s Corporate Improvement Department, was prosecuted for embezzling a total of 70.7 billion KRW of bank funds from March 2012 to June 2020 and using them for stock index option trading and other purposes.
Jeon was also charged with forging private and official documents to justify withdrawals during the embezzlement process and conspiring with his brother to transfer part of the embezzled funds to overseas paper company accounts.
Investigations revealed that the brothers, pressured by debt repayment due to business downturns and investment losses, conspired to personally use funds related to the sale of workout-target companies by withdrawing money through document forgery and false reporting, committing these crimes together.
At the time of their indictment, the embezzlement amount was reported as 61.4 billion KRW, but additional offenses were uncovered later, leading to an additional indictment for embezzlement amounting to approximately 9.32 billion KRW.
The first trial court sentenced the Woori Bank employee brothers to 13 years and 10 years imprisonment respectively, and the accomplice Seo to 1 year imprisonment.
Initially, the prosecution discovered an additional embezzlement amount of 9.3 billion KRW during the investigation and requested an amendment to the indictment. However, concerns about exceeding detention limits and differences in the embezzlement methods led to separate trials. In the trial for the 9.3 billion KRW embezzlement, the two were sentenced to 6 years and 5 years imprisonment respectively.
In the appellate trial, the two cases were consolidated, and Jeon and his brother were sentenced to 15 years and 12 years imprisonment respectively. Additionally, confiscation was increased by about 900 million KRW from the first trial to approximately 33.2 billion KRW, with a joint confiscation order on 5 billion KRW. Seo was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months imprisonment with 3 years probation and a confiscation of approximately 1.396 billion KRW.
The total embezzlement amount recognized by the court for the brothers is 67.3 billion KRW. However, 3.4 billion KRW embezzled through bearer securities and cashier’s checks was dismissed due to the statute of limitations.
The second trial court stated the sentencing rationale for Jeon, saying, "The defendant did not reach an agreement with Woori Bank, and it is realistically difficult for the bank to expect recovery of the damages. Considering the method and circumstances of the crime, post-crime situation, and the scale of the damage, a severe sentence commensurate with the defendant’s guilt is inevitable."
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