Former Police Officer Sentenced to 8 Years, Reduced From 10, in 6 Billion Won Jeonse Fraud Appeal

A former police officer on trial for swindling 6 billion won in jeonse deposits from villa tenants has had his sentence reduced on appeal.

The 8-1 Criminal Appeals Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Cha Seung-hwan, Choi Hae-il, and Choi Jin-sook) sentenced the defendant, surnamed Lee, to eight years in prison on October 23 and ordered him to pay a total of 280 million won in compensation to two victims.

Previously, the first-instance court sentenced Lee to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay 450 million compensation to three victims.

Lee, a former police officer, was put on trial for failing to return jeonse deposits to 46 people while running a rental business after purchasing seven villas under his own name and the names of acquaintances in the Gwanak-gu area of Seoul from September 2019 to December 2023.

Investigations showed that Lee reassured victims at the time of contracting by showing them his police identification card.

The appellate court pointed out, "The damage is large and the victims, mostly young adults starting out in society, likely suffered severe financial difficulties, yet most of the damages have not been recovered, making the nature of the crime very grave."

However, the court judged that the original sentence was somewhat heavy, stating, "It appears that approximately 958 million won will be repaid to the victims through auction procedures, and partial compensation will also be made to the remaining victims."

Explaining its sentencing reasons, the court noted that Lee is a first-time offender, partially admits to the crimes, and that one victim petitioned for leniency.

Regarding one victim whose compensation application was accepted in the first trial, the court revoked the compensation order, stating, "This falls under a case where a compensation order cannot be issued because the defendant's scope of compensation is unclear due to partial damage recovery."

Two acquaintances who lent their names to Lee when he purchased the villas were each sentenced to six months in prison with a two-year suspension in the first trial and did not appeal.

Meanwhile, the 13th Criminal Division of the Seoul Northern District Court (Presiding Judge Na Sang-hoon) sentenced a landlord in his 50s, surnamed Kim, to 12 years in prison and a fine of 1 million won on August 27 for orchestrating a jeonse fraud scheme amounting to some 16 billion won around a college neighborhood in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul.

Kim was indicted for swindling 16.2765 billion won in deposits from 154 tenants around the university district in Dongdaemun-gu, home to universities such as Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and Kyung Hee University.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.