Temporary Worker Becomes 'Hwagok-dong Villa King'... There Was a Backing Force

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Seoyul] The background behind Kang, a day laborer, becoming the so-called 'Hwaggok-dong Villa King' was revealed through the prosecution's investigation to involve a behind-the-scenes force that instructed and encouraged the criminal methods.

According to the indictment on the 'Hwaggok-dong Villa King' case received on the 15th from the office of Kim Hak-yong, a member of the People Power Party, the prosecution judged that Kang stepped into the jeonse fraud crime with the help of licensed real estate agent A and his business partner B, who were also indicted for fraud.

The prosecution stated in the indictment that when Kang, a day laborer, visited the real estate agency operated by A in July 2015 and said, "I want to start a real estate rental business, but I don't have the funds to purchase real estate," A and B mentioned newly built villas in the Gangseo-gu and Yangcheon-gu areas of Seoul and proposed a no-capital gap investment method, saying, "You can own multiple properties without capital."

The prosecution noted that at the time, A enticed Kang by saying, "If you buy a newly built villa where the sale price and jeonse price are the same, there is a rebate from the building owner, so we will give you 1.5 to 2 million won per unit. We will find tenants through our office."

The prosecution also specified that the rebates they received from the building owners ranged from 5 to 15 million won per unit, and A and B conspired in the crime by giving Kang about 1 to 2 million won from this amount and splitting the rest equally after deducting registration costs.

The prosecution believed that from September 2015, they began acquiring ownership of newly built villas under Kang's name in earnest. Subsequently, until December 2018, they embezzled a total of 2.863 billion won in jeonse deposits from 16 tenants who were victims and collected rebates worth 5 to 15 million won per unit from the building owners. During this period, the number of villas and houses Kang purchased was investigated to be as many as 283 units.

The prosecution also detected circumstances where Kang committed two solo crimes from March 2018, embezzling a total of 305 million won in deposits from victims. The indictment stated that Kang pretended to be a wealthy rental business owner, deceived other real estate agents, signed jeonse contracts, and received deposits.

The prosecution judged that Kang and others, despite having no ability to return the deposits, vaguely expected the house prices to rise and engaged in 'deposit rollover,' which led to a large number of victims. They concluded that although A and others knew Kang could not return the deposits, they encouraged him to pursue the rental business and effectively led the operation.

On the 4th, the prosecution arrested and indicted Kang on fraud charges, while A and B were indicted on the same charges but released without detention and sent to trial.

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