60s Woman Sentenced to 12 Years for 9.1 Billion Won Jeonse Fraud via No-Capital Gap Investment

A woman in her 60s was sentenced to a heavy prison term for embezzling billions of won from financial institutions and jeonse victims while acquiring officetels in the Seoul metropolitan area through a 'zero-capital gap investment' scheme.

The Criminal Division 15 of the Seoul Southern District Court (Presiding Judge Yang Hwan-seung) sentenced Shin Mo (61), who was indicted on charges including violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud), to 12 years in prison on the morning of the 3rd.

The court explained the sentencing reasons, stating, "The crime was planned and carried out in an organized manner, and the number of victims is very large. The amount embezzled reached 9.1 billion won, and except for partial repayment of some loans, there has been almost no restitution of damages. Despite being on probation for similar crimes with a prior prison sentence, the defendant committed the crime again. However, the fact that she showed remorse belatedly was considered a mitigating factor."

Jeon Mo (66), a recruiter indicted alongside Shin, was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, and three other recruiters received 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year probation. Six individuals who acted as false tenants were sentenced to 1 year in prison with 2 years probation and 80 hours of community service. Oh Mo (64), who was indicted for aiding and abetting forgery of private documents, was acquitted on the grounds that it was difficult to conclude that he committed the crime knowingly.

Earlier, in the sentencing hearing in September, the prosecution requested a 20-year prison term for Shin and 2 to 3 years imprisonment for the recruiters and defendants who acted as false tenants.

Shin is accused of embezzling approximately 9.1 billion won, including 3.4 billion won in deposits, 3.6 billion won in mortgage loans, and 2 billion won in jeonse housing funds, by using 27 officetels acquired through zero-capital gap investment in Seoul and Gyeonggi areas from July 2018 to February last year.