Suwon District Court Sentences 6 Years
False Employment Claim... Covered Investment Funds
A woman in her 40s who deceived classmates and relatives by claiming to work at a famous foreign investment firm and embezzled tens of billions of won in investment funds over a long period was sentenced to prison in the first trial.
The Suwon District Court Criminal Division 14 (Presiding Judge Go Kwon-hong) sentenced A (41, female), who was indicted for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, to six years in prison, Yonhap News reported on the 4th. The court also sentenced A's younger brother B (37), who was indicted for participating in some of A's crimes (fraud), to 10 months in prison with a two-year probation.
Since 2011, A pretended to her high school classmates, relatives, and acquaintances that she was working at Goldman Sachs, a famous foreign investment firm. She boasted about her abilities, saying things like "I am leading a team directly at the company" and "I have accumulated a lot of money through investments and plan to retire after working a few more years," encouraging victims to invest. Ultimately, A was prosecuted for embezzling a total of 5.5 billion won from eight people in the name of investment funds, including 2.42 billion won from victim C between November 2015 and August 2023.
However, A was not actually employed at Goldman Sachs, and investigations revealed that the investment funds received from victims were intended for personal stock investments or to cover returns to other victims through a Ponzi scheme. When new investors became necessary to pay promised profits and principal to existing investors, A asked her brother B to recruit new investors. B embezzled about 230 million won from another victim in November 2022.
The court pointed out, "The defendant exploited long-standing personal trust relationships with school classmates and relatives to commit crimes over an extended period, which is highly condemnable. The defendant has not been forgiven by the victims, and considering that there appear to be many victims who have not yet filed complaints, recovery of damages seems unlikely." The court further explained the sentencing rationale, stating, "However, the defendant generally admitted to the crimes and is a first-time offender without a criminal record. Also, the defendant paid a significant amount to victims under the pretext of interest payments, so the amount of damage recognized in the criminal facts does not fully reflect the actual damage."
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