Brazen Ulsan social welfare foundation head siphoned off 500 million won in donations

[Financial News, Ulsan—Choi Su-sang] A social welfare foundation CEO who siphoned off hundreds of millions of won in foundation donations but claimed to be innocent was given a suspended prison sentence.
The 12th Criminal Division of the Ulsan District Court, presided over by Judge Lee Yeong-je, said on the 9th that it had sentenced A, the CEO of a social welfare foundation in Ulsan, to two years in prison, suspended for four years, and ordered 200 hours of community service.
In 2020, A entered into a contract to use a plot of land in North Gyeongsang Province as a parking lot for a rehabilitation center and paid about 540 million won in foundation donations as rent. A was later indicted on charges including occupational breach of trust and embezzlement.
A police investigation found that the leased land belonged to A’s spouse, and that rent had been paid into an account owned by the spouse 48 times over a period of four years and two months. The land was about 100 meters from the rehabilitation center, and investigators found that a separate parking lot was unnecessary because the center itself had ample parking.
The foundation’s articles of incorporation also required board review and approval before lease agreements could be signed, but A did not follow this procedure either.
The facts came to light when Ulsan City found suspicious transactions while conducting a routine inspection of the foundation. A also used around 900,000 won in foundation donations for work dinners and rented out an apartment owned by the foundation for 90 million won without local government approval.
The court noted, “Despite the serious nature of the offense, the defendant has denied most of the facts of the crime,” and explained its sentencing decision: “However, we took into account that most of the losses had been repaid to the foundation and that the defendant had no prior record of similar offenses.”


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