'19 Million Won a Month' Gangnam Apartment, 500 Million Won Watch ... The Lavish Lifestyle of 20-Somethings Laundering Illegal Gambling Funds

[Financial News] Police have arrested 80 people who conspired with operators of illegal gambling websites to launder gambling funds totaling 590 billion won.
The Daegu Metropolitan Police Agency's Wide-Area Crime Investigation Unit said on the 27th that it had arrested 23 people, including A, in their 20s, the leader of a money-laundering organization, on suspicion of forming, joining, and operating a criminal organization and violating the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment and the Electronic Financial Transactions Act. Twenty-one of them were detained. It also arrested 13 suppliers and recruiters who provided the organization with borrowed-name accounts, as well as 44 account holders, on suspicion of violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, and detained one supplier.
According to police, A's organization is suspected of using 188 borrowed-name accounts to launder 590 billion won deposited by operators of illegal gambling websites between January 2025 and January 2026, then handing the money back to them.
Police investigations found that the suspects divided up roles as leaders, managers, money-transfer handlers, account suppliers, and recruiters, and continued their criminal activities.
During this period, leader A contacted gambling website operators and negotiated the terms of money laundering, among other tasks, while members managed the borrowed-name accounts and other members as instructed by the leader.
Other lower-ranking members were divided into day and night teams and tasked with quickly dispersing illegal gambling funds deposited into borrowed-name accounts across second- and third-tier accounts.
A's organization moved offices every month to evade investigation. When an account used for money laundering was suspended, the group immediately switched to a new borrowed-name account and continued its operations, police found.
They moved offices every month to evade investigation and covered the windows with boxes and other materials so that people outside could not see in.
In particular, the members led lavish lifestyles with the illicit funds. A rented an apartment in Gangnam, Seoul, under another person's name and was hiding there when police arrested them. The apartment had a 1.2 billion won deposit and monthly rent of 7.2 million won. A also used a luxury vehicle with a monthly fee of up to 10 million won.
Another ringleader, B, was also arrested while hiding in an apartment in Seoul. The apartment where B was hiding had a 300 million won deposit and monthly rent of 19 million won. At the time of his arrest, he had a luxury watch worth 500 million won.
During the investigation, police seized watches worth 600 million won, luxury clothing, and 149 mobile phones used to authenticate accounts. They also placed 2.6 billion won in criminal proceeds under pre-indictment confiscation and collection measures and preservation orders for collection.
A police official said, “We plan to continue investigating operators of illegal gambling websites, money-laundering organizations, and others.”
[email protected] An Gaeul Reporter