'Bulk Purchase of Empty Jeonse → Contract Forgery' Loan Broker Gang Sentenced to Prison

On April 11th, citizens are looking at the panoramic view of Seoul from Namsan, Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo is unrelated to the article content.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] So-called 'Kkangtong Jeonse' (Jeonse price equal to or higher than the sale price) houses were massively purchased, and a group who forged lease contracts and committed large-scale loan fraud using them were consecutively sentenced to prison.

According to the court on the 3rd, Judge Park Heegeun of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 18 sentenced A (68, male), who was indicted on charges of forgery of private documents and fraud, to 7 years in prison recently. Most of the nine others indicted together also received prison sentences or suspended sentences with imprisonment.

Earlier, A was brought to trial on charges including large-scale real estate loan fraud by acquiring a company under the name of his common-law wife in 2018.

According to the prosecution, A and his group purchased dozens of newly built villas and one-room apartments with Kkangtong Jeonse by paying only small amounts such as brokerage fees and registration fees without capital, and proceeded with real estate investment and rental business. Newly built villas occupied by Jeonse tenants were acquired without paying the sale price on the condition of taking over the Jeonse deposit.

They searched for borrowers who needed loans and victim lenders who would lend money through brokers. Then, by presenting 'forged monthly rent contracts' for the Kkangtong Jeonse houses, they deceived lenders into believing the collateral value was sufficient, and tried to receive compensation from the borrowers who succeeded in borrowing money, according to the prosecution.

In this process, A’s side forged real estate contracts at the company office to make it appear as if the current tenants had only paid a small monthly rent deposit. However, in reality, the tenants were living there after paying Jeonse deposits worth several hundred million won, so even if they borrowed money, they had no ability to repay the lenders.

In court, A claimed, "The defendant was a company employee responsible for mobile phone sales and did not handle real estate-related work," shifting responsibility to B (48, female), the company accountant indicted as an accomplice. It was confirmed that A had multiple prior prison sentences for fraud and violations of the Tax Offenses Punishment Act, and committed this crime during the recidivism period (within 3 years after completion or exemption of sentence).

Judge Park found A guilty. He said, "(Without capital) conducting 'gap investment' and committing crimes such as fraud, forgery of private documents, and use of forged private documents by using dozens of real estate properties acquired under the names of co-defendants," adding, "Many victims occurred, and the extent of damage is very large."

In particular, "This court consolidated 14 cases filed since November 2019 and conducted evidence investigations including questioning dozens of witnesses for about 2 years and 10 months, but the defendant is making false claims to evade responsibility and shifting blame to other co-defendants," he reprimanded.

The wife who lent her name was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison. Judge Park stated, "She admitted each crime and seems to have participated in each crime by lending her name to the gap investment business at the proposal of her common-law husband A, who was in a state of credit delinquency, rather than leading the crimes."

The company director who acted as a broker was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison, and accountant B received 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year suspended sentence. A borrower who was indicted together for borrowing several hundred million won through A’s group despite knowing the related facts was sentenced to 2 years in prison.

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