"If you lend me the money, I'll pay it back" 50s sentenced to imprisonment for embezzling 160 million won

[Financial News] A man in his 50s who deceived an acquaintance he met at a money pool meeting into lending him money, promising to repay it, and embezzled over 160 million won has been sentenced to imprisonment.
According to the legal community on the 9th, the Seoul Northern District Court Criminal Division 5 (Judge Kwon So-young) sentenced Mr. A (57), who was indicted on charges of fraud, to 1 year and 6 months in prison on the 28th of last month.
Mr. A was brought to trial on charges of taking a total of 165.2 million won from victim Mr. B in 64 instances from around May 2018 to around November 2022.
He was found to have lied to Mr. B, who was next in line to receive the money pool, saying, "I will help you receive the money pool as the first recipient in a new money pool," and "If you lend me money, I will pay the money pool for you later."
According to the prosecution, Mr. A had no significant assets or clear plans for raising funds, with accumulated debts reaching tens of millions of won. He had neither the intention nor the ability to pay the money pool on behalf of the victim.
The court stated, "The period of deceiving the victim was long, and the amount embezzled was 165.2 million won, which is a large amount, indicating the nature of the crime is bad and the responsibility is heavy." It further stated, "Most of the damage has not been recovered to date, and the victim is pleading for severe punishment, suffering from pain," explaining the reason for the sentencing.

jyseo@fnnews.com Seo Ji-yoon Reporter