Three-Year Prison Sentence for Fraud and Other Charges
A professor in her 50s has been sentenced to prison for defrauding her live-in partner out of hundreds of millions of won during his divorce proceedings.
On June 23, the Cheongju District Court Criminal Division 22 (Presiding Judge Han Sangwon) announced that it had sentenced Professor A, from a university in Cheongju, to three years in prison on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
Professor A was found guilty of defrauding her live-in partner, Mr. B, out of approximately 520 million won over 242 transactions spanning six years from September 2016.
According to the investigation, she deceived Mr. B, who was in the midst of divorce proceedings with his wife, by telling him, "Real estate and deposit assets are subject to division, so if you liquidate them, I will keep the cash for you," and then took the money.
In particular, Professor A was found to have manipulated Mr. B psychologically for an extended period by invoking shamanistic beliefs, claiming, for example, "I will help you obtain citizenship in heaven." She also deceived Mr. B by saying, "It is safest to keep cash in a house that serves the gods."
The court stated, "The defendant exercised psychological control over Mr. B for a long time and extorted a large sum of money," adding, "However, in determining the sentence, we considered that the defendant is a first-time offender and suffers from a mental illness that significantly impairs her perception of reality."
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