'24.6 Billion Embezzlement' Kyeyang Electric Employee Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison in First Trial

A man in his 30s, Kim Mo, an employee accused of embezzling approximately 24.6 billion KRW of company funds over six years at Gyeyang Electric, a KOSPI-listed company.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] An employee at Gyeyang Electric, a KOSPI-listed company, who was prosecuted for embezzling hundreds of billions of won of company funds, was sentenced to a heavy punishment in the first trial.

On the morning of the 6th at 10 a.m., the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 23 (Chief Judge Jo Byeonggu) sentenced Kim (35, male), who was indicted on charges of embezzlement, to 12 years in prison. The court also ordered the confiscation of over 20.8 billion won.

The court stated, "The defendant used the account management authority of the victim company to embezzle a huge amount of funds and committed crimes such as accounting manipulation and document forgery to conceal the crime. The company suffered serious damage, and since most of the damage has not been recovered, the company is petitioning for severe punishment of the defendant," adding, "However, the defendant admitted all the crimes and showed remorse, returned part of the embezzled money to the company, and directly confessed to the crime, which are taken into consideration."

Furthermore, the court added, "While serving the sentence, the defendant must reflect and ensure that such incidents never happen again upon reintegration into society. When the situation allows, efforts should be made to compensate for the damages and spend time reflecting on oneself."

At the previous sentencing hearing, the prosecution requested the court to sentence Kim to 15 years in prison. They also requested the confiscation of 20.9 billion won in fines and 420,000 virtual currencies purchased by Kim.

Kim admitted all charges. However, his defense attorney appealed for consideration of Kim’s situation, including having a 6-year-old daughter and the need to send monthly child support and living expenses to his ex-wife and parents, who are struggling financially.

In his final statement, Kim said, "I did not grow up in an unfortunate family, nor were there people around me who tempted me down a bad path," "I have come to this point solely due to my vain greed and wrong judgment," "I apologize to the company and shareholders who suffered damages."

Previously, Kim was prosecuted on charges of embezzling about 24.6 billion won by transferring company funds a total of 925 times from the company’s account to his own account after losing a large amount of money to gambling while working as a deputy manager in the Finance Team of the Management Support Department at Gyeyang Electric for six years since 2016. This amount corresponded to 12.7% of Gyeyang Electric’s equity capital of 192.6 billion won.

Although Kim voluntarily returned 3.7 billion won of the embezzled funds to the company, it was revealed that he entrusted about 500 million won worth of virtual currency to his ex-wife just days before his arrest, leading to additional charges of violating the Act on the Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment.

The embezzled money was mostly squandered on investments in overseas virtual currency exchange futures options or stocks, fees for UK gambling sites, and living expenses. Gyeyang Electric’s stock trading was suspended when Kim’s crime was revealed but resumed in mid-July.

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