Yoon Hong-geun, BBQ Chairman, Fully Denies Breach of Trust Charges in First Trial

Yoon Hong-geun, chairman of BBQ who was indicted on embezzlement charges involving billions of won, denied all allegations at the first trial.

Yoon Hong-geun, Chairman of BBQ, is walking to the courtroom at Seongnam Branch of Suwon District Court on the 27th to attend a trial on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust). Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

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The Criminal Division 3 of Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch (Presiding Judges Kang Hyun-gu, Lee Yoo-jin, Yoo Jae-gyeong) held the first trial on the 27th morning for Chairman Yoon, who was indicted on embezzlement charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

Chairman Yoon is accused of causing damage to the company by having Genesis, the holding company of BBQ, lend tens of billions of won in company funds to his personal company J from 2013 to 2016 and failing to recover a significant amount. J is a company established in July 2013 with 100% investment from Yoon’s family and is not an affiliate of Genesis or BBQ. Later, J was sold due to capital erosion and other reasons.

The prosecution stated, "The defendant had a duty to take sufficient measures to recover the claims when lending Genesis’s funds but violated this duty by lending 1 billion won of Genesis’s funds to GNS Hinet without collateral around November 8, 2013, and from then until March 22, 2016, lent a total of 4.365 billion won in 28 installments. As a result, the defendant caused damage to Genesis equivalent to that amount and allowed GNS Hinet to obtain profits."

Chairman Yoon’s defense team stated, "We do not admit the charges" and expressed their intention to present their opinions on the charges at the next hearing.

The second trial for Chairman Yoon is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on June 8.

Meanwhile, Chairman Yoon, wearing a black suit and a white mask, appeared in court with his defense team but left the scene without responding to reporters’ questions before and after the trial.

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