'Refund Suspension Crisis' MergePlus CEO Siblings Finally Detained... "Risk of Flight"

Fraud Charges Amounting to Approximately 250 Billion KRW and Embezzlement and Breach of Trust Amounting to Approximately 9 Billion KRW Applied

Kwon Nam-hee, CEO of Merge Plus, attended the National Assembly's inspection of the Fair Trade Commission held by the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee on the 5th and responded to questions from lawmakers. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Kwon Nam-hee (37), CEO of Merge Plus, the operator of 'Merge Point,' who is accused of causing massive financial damage to consumers due to a large-scale refund suspension incident, and his younger brother Kwon Bo-gun (34), known as a co-founder, have been arrested.

On the afternoon of the 9th, Lee Young-gwang, the chief judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Southern District Court, conducted a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant substantive examination) for the two individuals, who are accused of violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, fraud, and embezzlement and breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (Special Act). He then issued arrest warrants, citing "risk of flight."

CEO Kwon and his brother Kwon are accused of operating Merge Plus since around February 2018 without registering as a prepaid electronic payment instrument issuer and manager as stipulated by the Electronic Financial Transactions Act. They are also charged with conducting electronic payment agency business without registration by recruiting some members through a prepaid method.

The police believe the two sold cash-equivalent 'Merge Money' worth several hundred billion won in a so-called "Ponzi scheme" manner and applied fraud charges. They are also accused of embezzling about 9 billion won from Merge Plus and affiliated corporate funds.

Meanwhile, after the refund incident in August escalated into controversy, the Financial Supervisory Service requested an investigation by the police. A total of 465 victims filed 25 complaints with the police.

The Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency plans to continue investigating the arrested Kwon siblings regarding specific charges and details.

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