60s Younger Brother Who Hid 'Brother's Death' and Embezzled 900 Million Won from Bank, Ultimately...

Court: "No Right to Withdraw Deposits"
Fraud Against Bank Recognized... Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison

A man in his 60s who concealed the death of his older brother and forged deposit claim forms in the deceased's name to embezzle a large sum of 900 million won was sentenced to prison and detained in court again in the appellate trial.

According to Yonhap News on the 16th, the Criminal Division 1 of the Chuncheon Branch of the Seoul High Court (Chief Judge Min Ji-hyun) dismissed the appeal filed by A (62), who was indicted on charges of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and forgery of private documents, and upheld the original sentence of two years in prison.

Bank counter. (This photo is not directly related to the article.) Photo by Yonhap News

A, the younger brother of B who died on April 13, 2019, visited a financial institution two days after his brother's death. Using B's seal, he forged and used four deposit claim forms in B's name to embezzle 90 million won. Over the next three days, A received a total of approximately 899 million won from the financial institution in four installments.

In court, A denied the charges, claiming, "My brother B agreed during his lifetime to gift the deposits and allow me to withdraw and use them," but the court did not accept this.

The first trial court ruled, "Even if B had agreed during his lifetime to gift the deposits or consented to A's withdrawals, such agreements lost their effect upon B's death." Therefore, the court found that A's act of deceiving others by pretending that the deceased directly claimed the deposits and taking the money constituted fraud, as A had no legal right to exercise the deceased's deposit claims.

The court pointed out that the financial institution would not have paid the deposits to A had it known of the deceased's death, and that A was fully aware of this but still committed the crime. Accordingly, the first trial court sentenced A to two years in prison and detained him in court.

Under civil law, the agency relationship terminates upon the death of the principal, and the power of attorney is extinguished; therefore, the court found A's actions guilty based on the fact that he had no authority to prepare or use deposit claim forms in the deceased's name after death.

In the appellate trial, A appealed, claiming innocence, but the second trial court dismissed the appeal, stating, "The fraud against the financial institution is clearly established," and upheld the original verdict.