A suspended prison sentence has been finalized by the Supreme Court for a lawyer indicted for participating in receiving valuables and money from a company in exchange for lobbying favors, in connection with Jeon Seong-bae, widely known as Geonjin Beopsa.

The defendant had served as Jeon's legal counsel starting from when Jeon was under investigation by the Southern Seoul Prosecutors' Office in late 2024, but stepped down after being booked as a suspect during the special counsel team's investigation.

The Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Oh Kyung-mi) finalized the lower court's ruling today (October 30) sentencing the lawyer, surnamed Kim, indicted on charges including violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (mediation and bribery), to one year in prison suspended for two years and forfeiture of 55.63 million won.

Kim was indicted by the independent counsel team led by Special Prosecutor Min Joong-ki on charges of conspiring with Jeon to intervene in a process from September 2022 to October of the following year, where they fulfilled requests from content company Conlab Company and received a total of 167 million won in return.

According to the special counsel's view, Jeon demanded money and valuables in exchange for fulfilling a request from Conlab Company's CEO to invite high-ranking officials or influential figures to the company's events, and the CEO delivered the money to Jeon by signing a false contract with Kim and paying 6.6 million won per month in service fees for about a year.

Kim also faced charges (violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act) of introducing an acquaintance lawyer to another defendant in a criminal case he was handling in May 2024 and receiving 25 million won.

The first trial found Kim guilty of all major charges, sentencing him to one year and six months in prison, ordering the forfeiture of 86.54 million won, and taking him into legal custody.

In the second trial, Kim had his sentence reduced to one year in prison suspended for two years, with a forfeiture of 55.63 million won.

The appellate court also recognized Kim's charges of mediation for bribery as guilty.

The ruling was based on the determination that Kim entered into an advisory contract with Conlab Company while being aware, at least implicitly, of Jeon's mediation activities, and used part of the money received under the guise of advisory fees to cover expenses such as Jeon's vehicle lease payments.

However, regarding the charge of violating the Attorney-at-Law Act, the court dismissed the indictment on the grounds that it fell outside the scope of investigation stipulated by the special counsel act concerning Kim Keon-hee.

Although Kim appealed the guilty portion, the Supreme Court concluded that there were no errors in legal interpretation or other faults in the appellate court's judgment, and dismissed Kim's appeal.

(Photo: Yonhap News)