Man in His 70s Fined for Embezzlement After Transferring Funds From Deceased Common-Law Wife's Account

Appellate Court Upholds Fine of 5 Million Won

A man in his 70s who transferred money from the bank account of his common-law wife, who died of cancer, to his own account and spent it, has been fined for embezzlement in both the first trial and the appeal.

According to Yonhap News Agency on September 28, the Criminal Division 1 of the Chuncheon District Court (Presiding Judge Shim Hyungeun) sentenced Mr. A (76), who was indicted on charges of embezzlement, to a fine of 5 million won, upholding the original verdict.

Mr. A was summarily indicted on charges of embezzling approximately 30 million won from the bank account of Ms. B, his common-law wife, after her death in November 2022. Mr. A had been in a common-law relationship with Ms. B since 1999. After Ms. B passed away, he transferred about 41 million won from her bank account to his own. Of this amount, he paid around 10 million won for Ms. B's funeral expenses, but used the remaining money for personal debt repayment and living expenses, without returning it to Ms. B's children, who are her legal heirs.

Chuncheon District Court Exterior

When Mr. A was issued a summary order to pay a fine of 3 million won, he requested a formal trial and pleaded not guilty. The Wonju Branch of the Chuncheon District Court, which handled the first trial, stated, "The defendant withdrew a significant amount of money from the deceased's account, which clearly belonged to the heirs, just about two hours after the victim's death, and embezzled it." The court added, "Considering the amount embezzled, the defendant's lack of remorse, and the circumstances after the crime, the penalty set by the summary order is too lenient," and increased the fine to 5 million won.

In the appellate court, Mr. A argued, "Since I regularly entrusted my income to Ms. B, the money in Ms. B's account was jointly owned and cannot be considered someone else's property," and, "Since the remaining funds were used to repay debts incurred for Ms. B's medical expenses, it cannot be considered embezzlement."

However, the appellate court noted that as of late August 2021, the balance in Ms. B's account was only about 1.7 million won, and that between October of the same year and the following year, about 80 million won in insurance payouts were deposited into the account over 17 transactions after her cancer diagnosis. The court concluded that the funds in Ms. B's account were primarily formed from insurance payouts. The court also pointed out that there was no objective evidence to support Mr. A's claim that his own money had been deposited into Ms. B's account.

The court further found that after Ms. B's cancer diagnosis, Mr. A managed the account and kept the money at her request, and that after Ms. B's death, her children inherited the deposit claims to the money in the account. Therefore, Mr. A was in a position to protect or manage the property of Ms. B's children, which served as grounds for his conviction. Regarding Mr. A's claim that the sentence was too severe, the court stated, "There have been no new circumstances or changes since the original verdict that would warrant a change in sentencing," and upheld the original sentence.