Acquaintance Couple Who Embezzled Lottery Winnings from Intellectually Disabled Person 'Sentenced to Prison'

The photo is unrelated to the article. Source=Yonhap News Agency

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] A couple who was indicted on charges of embezzling lottery winnings from an intellectually disabled person they knew was sentenced to prison in the appellate court. Previously, the first trial court had acquitted the couple.

According to the legal community on the 3rd, the couple A (65) deceived B around 2016, after learning that B had won the first prize in the lottery, by suggesting "let's live together" and received a remittance of 880 million won.

The couple A used the money received from B to purchase land and construct a building. However, they registered the land and building under A’s name and even took out loans using the land and building as collateral. The couple also distributed part of the money received from B (about 100 million won) to their family members.

After discovering these facts later, B filed a complaint against the couple A, and the prosecution indicted A and others on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud).

However, the first trial court (Hongseong Branch of Daejeon District Court) accepted the couple A’s claim that the land and building were owned by B but only registered under their names, and that they had agreed to give the income generated from operating a restaurant to the victim as living expenses, and acquitted them.

Regarding B, who had social abilities at the level of a 13-year-old, the first trial court’s sentencing rationale was that "the victim appears to have a concept of property ownership and it is difficult to see that the victim lacked the judgment to be easily swayed by simple temptations."

However, the appellate court’s judgment was different. The Criminal Division 1 of the Daejeon High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Jun-myeong) sentenced the couple A to three years and three years and six months in prison, respectively, in the appeal trial initiated by the prosecutor. Unlike the first trial court, the appellate court judged that B had a mental disability regarding the ability to engage in high-value financial transactions.

The appellate court stated, "The act of buying small amounts of food and the act of conducting real estate transactions involving large sums require completely different levels of judgment," and added, "The victim (B) had difficulty reading numbers and even needed help from others to withdraw money from a bank."

Furthermore, the court explained the reason for sentencing the couple A to prison, saying, "It is difficult to see that there was an agreement for nominal trust between the defendants (the couple A) and the victim. They deceived the victim, who seemed unable to clearly understand the concepts of ownership and registration, by pretending as if they were buying land or constructing a building on behalf of the victim."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.