'Delay in Repayment of 78 Billion Won' Lumen Payments CEO Sentenced to 15 Years in First Trial

[Financial News] Kim Inhwan, CEO of the electronic payment agency (PG) Lumen Payments, indicted for causing a delay in repayment of 78 billion won, was sentenced to a heavy penalty in the first trial.
Seoul Southern District Court Criminal Division 14 (Presiding Judge Lee Jeonghee) sentenced CEO Kim to 15 years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of approximately 40.8 billion won for charges including fraud and embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. Seo, who was tried together for aiding fraud, was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison with a 4-year probation.
The court pointed out, "The crime in this case was carried out very meticulously and systematically, and the scale is an astronomical amount of 78.3 billion won," adding, "No compensation for the damage has been made, and good investors have suffered significant mental distress, and the victims are pleading for severe punishment."
Furthermore, "However, if the victims had been more cautious, they could have known about the crime, and the fact that the crime continued for a long time and the investors suffered substantial damage also places some responsibility on the victims," the court said, "It was considered favorable that some recovery of damage is possible through measures such as seizure preservation of real estate and stocks."
According to the prosecution, CEO Kim was brought to trial for allegedly defrauding 72 billion won in 'advance settlement loans' from Cross Finance, an online investment-linked financial company, by using a paper company to secure false credit card sales receivables as collateral. He was also found to have received 6 billion won in advance settlement loans from another company using the same method and failed to repay them.
Additionally, CEO Kim is accused of using 39.7 billion won of Lumen Payments funds for personal use over 408 instances from December 2022 to March last year, and misappropriating 1.068 billion won from four companies, including Lumen Financial, over 30 instances from November 2022 to August last year.
CEO Kim fled after failing to appear at the pre-arrest interrogation (warrant review) when an arrest warrant was requested last August. He was later arrested at a hideout in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, on the 30th of the same month. Previously, in the sentencing trial held last May, the prosecution sought a 30-year prison sentence and a forfeiture of 40.8 billion won for CEO Kim, and a 3-year prison sentence for Seo.

welcome@fnnews.com Jang Yuha