5,287 Victims Targeted in Ponzi Scheme
Seo, the former CEO of Midas Partners, who was brought to trial on charges of operating a multi-level fraud scheme worth approximately 350 billion won, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison, with the verdict now finalized.
According to the legal community on October 5, the Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Oh Kyung-mi) recently upheld the lower court's ruling, confirming the sentence for Seo, who was prosecuted on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and violations of the Act on Regulation of Conducting Fund-Raising Business Without Permission.
Seo was indicted on charges of establishing a corporation called Midas Partners under the guise of a consulting firm and defrauding approximately 3,500 people out of about 350 billion won between 2018 and 2021.
He was found to have lured investors by claiming, "If you send funds in the form of a loan, we will pool these funds and lend them to promising small and medium-sized enterprises, including solar energy companies, guaranteeing a monthly return of about 2% in interest." However, in reality, the operation was a Ponzi scheme, in which funds from later investors were used to pay principal and interest to earlier investors.
Previously, in November of last year, the first trial sentenced Seo to 16 years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of 98.4 billion won. The court stated, "The financial damage caused by this case is enormous," and added, "In particular, Seo defrauded economically vulnerable victims of their jeonse deposits and even encouraged them to take out excessive loans, such as so-called 'policy loans' secured by insurance policies meant to support their retirement."
Seo appealed the first trial's decision, but both the appellate court and the Supreme Court upheld the same sentence.
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