A man in his 50s who swindled hundreds of millions of won from victims of investment fraud by approaching them and offering to recoup their losses was handed over to trial.
On the 20th, the 5th Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office (Chief Prosecutor Cho Jae-cheol) announced that the day before, Mr. Baek (51), CEO of a quasi-investment advisory company, was arrested and indicted on charges of fraud and violation of the Capital Markets Act. An employee of the company operated by Mr. Baek was also indicted without detention as an accomplice.
Mr. Baek is accused of defrauding victims of stock and coin investment fraud by telling them that they could recoup their losses by signing up as members of a similar investment advisory company run by him.
After gaining the trust of victims by running an online cafe for investment victims from June 2022 to August of last year, he stole about 160 million won from 10 people in the name of membership fees.
It was found that Mr. Baek deceived the victims by saying, “We have a securities expert dispatched to our company to help investment victims liquidate stocks that have incurred losses,” and that he could earn high profits through him.
Although Mr. Baek is not a lawyer, he is also accused of receiving 197 million won (violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act) under the pretext of writing legal documents such as complaints or personally arbitrating the return of investment funds. In exchange for mediation, he received 20% of the victim’s returned investment as a commission, and it was found that he received separate money from the company in exchange for deleting negative comments about the offending company.
The prosecution froze Mr. Baek’s criminal proceeds through collection preservation.
Reporter Lee Gyu-hee lkh@segye.com
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Source: www.segye.com
