Vice President of Capital Sentenced to Prison for Tens of Billions in Kickbacks After Saemaeul Geumgo Investment Fund Brokerage

Court Sentences 4 Years Imprisonment and 2.78 Billion Won Fine

The vice president of a capital company, who was indicted for pocketing 3.1 billion won in bribes in exchange for attracting 330 billion won worth of Saemaeul Geumgo fund investments, was sentenced to prison.

According to the legal community on the 30th, the Seoul Eastern District Court Criminal Division 11 (Presiding Judge Kim Byung-chul) sentenced Choi, the 44-year-old vice president of M Capital (formerly Hyosung Capital), who was detained and indicted on charges of bribery and mediation under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and violation of the Act on the Regulation of Concealment of Criminal Proceeds, to four years in prison and a fine of about 2.78 billion won. Choi, the 43-year-old deputy general manager of the Saemaeul Geumgo Central Association, who was also detained and indicted for executing the actual investment at Choi’s request (charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes), was sentenced to five years in prison, a fine of 150 million won, and a fine of about 189 million won.

The court stated that both men had a close relationship with former Saemaeul Geumgo Central Association President Park Cha-hoon (66), saying, "It is hard to hide the suspicion that things that would be unimaginable for ordinary people were carried out so easily based on the influence of the central association president."

Choi, the former driver of ex-President Park, was indicted on charges of using his connections with Park to mediate from November 2019 to April this year for Deputy General Manager Choi and others to invest a total of 337 billion won of the central association’s fund in Company S, pocketing about 3.1 billion won as a reward. Deputy General Manager Choi was also indicted on charges of embezzling about 160.3 million won by investing in Company S from July 2020 to March this year and using a corporate card received from Vice President Choi.

A CEO A of S Asset Management Company and Director B of O Asset Management Company, who were tried together for providing money and goods to Deputy General Manager Choi (charges of mediation under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes), were sentenced to one year and six months in prison and ten months in prison with a two-year probation and 40 hours of community service, respectively, on the same day.

Meanwhile, former President Park is on trial for receiving about 260 million won worth of money and goods from executives of the Saemaeul Geumgo Central Association and asset management company CEOs (charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes).

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