Vice Chairman Reed's Embezzlement of About 80 Billion Won Reduced in Second Trial... Additional Fine Imposed

Seoul Central District Court / Photo by Honam Moon munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The executives of Lead, a company listed on KOSDAQ, who were sentenced to prison in the first trial for embezzling hundreds of billions of won of company funds, received reduced sentences in the appellate court.

The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 13 (Presiding Judges Koo Hoe-geun, Lee Jun-young, Choi Sung-bo) on the 15th overturned the first trial's sentence of 8 years imprisonment for Lead Vice Chairman Park and sentenced him to 7 years imprisonment and a fine of 500 million won on charges of embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Lead CEO Koo and Sales Manager Kang, who were sentenced to 4 years and 3 years respectively in the first trial, both had their sentences reduced to 2 years and 6 months imprisonment in the appellate court. However, CEO Koo was also fined 100 million won in the appellate court, a penalty not imposed in the first trial. Kim, CEO of Lead’s subsidiary Oraem, who was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment in the first trial, was given a 2 years and 6 months prison sentence with a 4-year probation and was released.

The court ruled that among the embezzled amounts recognized as guilty in the first trial, 1.5 billion won related to convertible bonds and 990 million won related to paid-in capital increase could not be considered embezzlement. The rest were concluded as embezzlement, consistent with the first trial.

They were indicted last October on charges of embezzling company funds through a paper company, citing the need for funds to invest in another company. The amount of embezzlement recognized in the first trial was 83.4 billion won, and even excluding parts acquitted in the second trial, the embezzlement amount exceeds 80 billion won.

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