Real Estate Fraudster Conceals 15.1 Billion Won of Criminal Proceeds While Incarcerated

False Creation of Goyeopje Jeonwoohoe Housing Project Group Leads LH Apartment Preferential Sales Through Intimidation and Threats

A construction businessman involved in the sale fraud of the Veterans of the Vietnam War Association has been brought to trial again on charges of concealing criminal proceeds while in prison.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The Crime Proceeds Recovery Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Hee-chan) indicted Mr. A, who is accused of violating the Act on the Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment, along with five current and former employees of the corporation and lawyers, without detention on the 29th. Five corporations operated by Mr. A were also indicted without detention.

Mr. A was previously prosecuted for creating a fake organization called the "Veterans of the Vietnam War Housing Project Group" from 2013 to 2015 and participating in the process where former executives of the veterans' association and construction businessmen received preferential apartment allocations from Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) for apartment complexes in Wirye New Town and other areas. In 2019, he was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to forfeit and recover 18 billion KRW, which was confirmed.

At that time, it was found that Mr. A and others demanded preferential treatment for the allocations by spraying feces and digestive fluids in LH offices, grilling mackerel, and even causing disturbances naked while wielding weapons. Eventually, LH Corporation, unable to withstand the harassment and threats, set an unprecedented condition of prioritizing allocation based on a "Recommendation Letter from the Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs," and transferred 42,000㎡ of land in Wirye New Town and 60,000㎡ of land in the Segyo District to the housing project group for 183.6 billion KRW and 86.6 billion KRW, respectively.

According to the prosecution, while serving his sentence, Mr. A transferred part of the 18 billion KRW in criminal proceeds to three corporations he operated under the pretexts of loans and service fees through employee Mr. B. The prosecution believes that Mr. A embezzled 15.1 billion KRW in this manner, some of which was spent on family salaries and lawyer fees.

The prosecution discovered that Mr. A handed over prison letters to his lawyers during visits to instruct employees to conceal criminal proceeds, and indicted two lawyers together on the same day.

When Mr. A resisted by paying only 100 million KRW of the forfeiture amount, the prosecution detected clues of criminal proceeds concealment during the process of verifying assets to collect the remaining 17.9 billion KRW.

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