According to the legal community on August 1, Jeju District Court Criminal Division 4 Single Judge Jeon Sungjun recently sentenced a man in his 40s, identified as A, to four years and six months in prison on charges of fraud.
A is accused of deceiving more than 100 merchants operating restaurants and cafes in Jeju, Daegu, Incheon, and other locations from September 2021 to August last year, falsely promising to promote their businesses and collecting approximately 351 million won. The amount of damage per victim reportedly ranged from as little as 2 million won to as much as 40 million won.
Investigations revealed that A lured the merchants by claiming that comedians who had passed public broadcasting auditions would appear on his YouTube channel and that he would promote their businesses through so-called "mukbang" (broadcasts featuring eating). In fact, it was confirmed that well-known comedians did appear in some of the videos on his channel.
He also deceived victims by promising that even if the YouTube promotion was not successful, he would pay them 100,000 won in advertising revenue each month and subsidize delivery platform usage fees. However, at the time of the crime, A not only lacked the ability to produce YouTube content but was also burdened with debts amounting to tens of millions of won.
Judge Jeon stated, "This is a fraud crime targeting multiple victims, and the defendant's culpability is not light. Most of the victims have not forgiven him." He added, "However, I considered the fact that he admitted his wrongdoing, is reflecting on his actions, and has reached settlements with some of the victims in determining the sentence."
Both the prosecution and the defendant have appealed the first trial verdict, citing the sentence as being unjust.
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