A group involved in a jeonse fraud scheme, who swindled nearly 14 billion KRW from 155 victims using four one-room multi-family houses purchased through 'no-capital gap investment,' partially admitted to the charges in court.
On the 21st, Judge Seo Young-woo of the 12th Criminal Division at the Seoul Southern District Court held the second trial session for 10 defendants, including Mr. A, who are accused of fraud and other charges. On this day, the defendants partially admitted to the charges presented by the prosecution.
Mr. A's lawyer stated, "While most of the charges are admitted, the charge related to one building is denied because the ownership of the building was transferred to co-defendant Mr. B, who was indicted together." In response, Mr. B's lawyer said, "I only lent my name to Mr. A, so there was no conspiracy with him, but I admit to the remaining charges."
Other defendants also mostly admitted or partially admitted to the charges.
Earlier, on July 18, the prosecution indicted 10 individuals on charges including fraud related to a jeonse scam. They are accused of swindling 13.5 billion KRW in jeonse deposits and 300 million KRW in jeonse loan funds from 155 victims between February 2017 and October last year in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Geumcheon-gu, and Dongjak-gu, Seoul. They used the deposits received from jeonse contracts to cover the purchase price and engaged in so-called 'empty can jeonse' contracts, where the jeonse price exceeded the building's value.
They used the deposits received from victims to return deposits to existing tenants, but when funds ran short, they took out a 300 million KRW loan by presenting fictitious tenants. Additionally, the building owner who transferred the one-room hotels to no-capital landlords recruited new tenants to recover the purchase price, gathering 2.3 billion KRW in deposits, according to the investigation.
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