'Illegal Loan' Yoo Jun-won, CEO of SangSangIn, Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison and Fined 18.5 Billion Won in First Trial

"Severe Damage to Fairness and Transparency of the Trading Market"

Yoo Jun-won, CEO of Sangsangin Group, who was indicted on charges of illegal lending, was sentenced to four years in prison in the first trial. However, he was not detained in court.

Yoo Jun-won, CEO of Sangsangin. Photo by Yonhap News

On the 18th, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 34 (Presiding Judge Han Sung-jin) sentenced Yoo, who was charged with violating the Capital Markets Act, to four years in prison and a fine of 18,549,410,000 KRW. He was also ordered to pay a confiscation of 12,227,000 KRW. The court acquitted him of charges related to market manipulation and breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

The court stated the reason for sentencing, saying, "Fraudulent unfair trading seriously undermines the purpose of the corporate disclosure system and severely damages the fairness, transparency, and reliability of corporate management and securities trading markets. Therefore, the culpability cannot be considered light."

It continued, "In particular, the Sangsangin-affiliated savings banks, including Yoo Jun-won, designed loan and convertible bond issuance structures tailored to the needs of the issuing companies, sustained these practices for several years, and gained substantial profits. After engaging in fraudulent unfair trading, Yoo sold all shares of Hanp, where he was the major shareholder, realizing tens of billions of won in capital gains. The sharp decline in Hanp’s stock price caused significant losses to numerous ordinary investors."

Yoo is accused of conducting high-interest secured loans to KOSDAQ-listed companies from April 2015 to December 2018, while falsely disclosing that the listed companies successfully issued convertible bonds to attract investment funds, thereby deceiving investors.

He is also charged with receiving undisclosed information related to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) of listed companies in advance through professional brokers and profiting from short-term stock trading. Additionally, Yoo was charged with market manipulation by repeatedly placing fake purchase and high-price purchase orders while buying treasury shares of the holding company during the expansion of Sangsangin Group in 2019.

Previously, the prosecution sought a sentence of nine years in prison, a fine of 13,490,000,000 KRW, and confiscation of approximately 11,200,000 KRW.