CEO Gu Young-bae, Ryu Hwa-hyun, and Ryu Kwang-jin Facing Arrest... "Apologies to the Victims" (Comprehensive)

Former Representative Koo Followed by Ryu Hwa-hyun and Ryu Kwang-jin Relay Review Every 40 Minutes

Gu Young-bae, CEO of Qoo10 Group, identified as the key suspect who triggered the large-scale unpaid settlement incident at TMON and WEMAKEPRICE, is attending the pre-arrest hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 10th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Gu Young-bae, CEO of Qoo10 Group, Ryu Hwa-hyun, CEO of Wemakeprice, and Ryu Kwang-jin, CEO of Tmon, who have been identified as key suspects in the large-scale unsettled payment incident involving Tmon and Wemakeprice (Timep), are now facing detention.

At 9:50 a.m. on the 7th, Judge Shin Young-hee of the Seoul Central District Court, who is in charge of warrants, conducted a pre-arrest interrogation (warrant substantive examination) of Gu, who is accused of fraud, embezzlement, and breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. The warrant substantive examinations for Ryu Hwa-hyun and Ryu Kwang-jin, who were also subject to arrest warrants on the same charges, were held at 10:30 a.m. and 11:10 a.m., respectively. Their detention decisions are expected to be announced as early as that afternoon. When Gu appeared at the court around 9:36 a.m., he responded to reporters’ questions asking if he had known about the unsettled payment incident for two years by saying, “No, only after the incident occurred.” Gu also said, “I sincerely apologize once again to the victims and the public,” and added, “I will faithfully explain everything during the trial.”

Following him, Ryu Hwa-hyun, who appeared at the court, said, “I was aware that gift certificate settlements had been delayed since early this year,” and added, “Since the end of last year, even though I wanted to reduce gift certificates, I couldn’t, so I described it as a ‘gift certificate swamp’ and a ‘debt swamp.’ It meant that I wanted to continuously reduce gift certificate sales.”

Regarding allegations of involvement in favoring Qxpress orders, he said, “I was not involved in supporting delivery fees. It is true that I tried to sell more products and reach targets for Qxpress to succeed.” He then stated, “It is not true that I conspired with CEO Ryu Kwang-jin to avoid rehabilitation,” before entering the courtroom.

Ryu Kwang-jin arrived at the court around 10:41 a.m. and did not answer any questions such as whether he believes Gu was leading the incident, whether he received instructions from Qoo10, or whether he admits to false reporting to the Financial Supervisory Service, heading straight into the courtroom. Gu and others are accused of deceiving sellers despite knowing that it was difficult to pay the settlement amounts, engaging in a Ponzi-like operation, and embezzling approximately 1.595 trillion won worth of product sales proceeds.

The Timep incident special investigation team of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office (led by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Lee Jun-dong) filed pre-arrest warrants for them on the 4th. Earlier, the prosecution conducted searches of Gu’s residence and other locations, and summoned Gu twice for questioning on the 30th of last month and the 2nd of this month.