Branch Manager and Others Indicted for Issuing Billions of Won in Illegal Loans to Jeonse Fraud Ring

Cheonan District Office Indicts 13 Including Bank Branch Managers, Judicial Scriveners, and Certified Realtors

A group involved in Jeonse fraud, along with a current financial institution branch manager, a judicial scrivener, and licensed real estate agents who cooperated with them, will stand trial in large numbers.

On the 9th, the Cheonan Branch of the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office indicted branch manager A (50, female) of a financial institution, who provided illegal loans to the Jeonse fraud group, on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust), the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, and the Real Name Financial Transactions Act. Judicial scrivener B (64), who brokered the financial institution for the group and received 70 million won, was also indicted and detained on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (brokerage bribery). Additionally, six licensed real estate agents and assistants who introduced tenants to properties by inflating the market value of buildings used in the fraud were prosecuted for violating the Licensed Real Estate Agents Act.

Furthermore, four members of the Jeonse fraud group, consisting of real estate and loan brokers, a housing management company operator, and a private lender, were prosecuted without detention on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud), forgery of private documents, and use of forged private documents.

In March 2020, these individuals drafted lease contracts for a building in Cheonan, Chungnam, setting the deposit much lower than the actual market value. They also falsified the lease status report held by the housing management company operator, securing a loan of 2.75 billion won from a financial institution?far exceeding the actual available loan amount. They are accused of concealing this from 28 tenants and collecting a total of 1.5 billion won in deposits.

Investigations revealed that the involvement of branch manager A, who was actively working at the financial institution, played a significant role in enabling the group to obtain loans exceeding the market value from the bank.

Despite knowing that the group had inflated the real estate value in their loan applications, A assisted them in securing loans on three occasions. Judicial scrivener B is accused of arranging another financial institution for a loan when the group faced difficulties acquiring another building, and receiving 70 million won in return.

During this process, the real estate agents and assistants who brokered the buildings introduced the properties to victims by inflating their market value and deceived them into believing that the guarantee certificate would cover up to 100 million won of deposit per tenant.

A prosecution official stated, "Through close cooperation with the police, four Jeonse fraudsters were indicted and detained last August, receiving sentences of up to six years in the first trial," and added, "Through follow-up investigations, we have now taken stern action against financial and real estate professionals who facilitated the crimes."