‘No refund of virtual currency investment principal’, 60-year-old accused of fraud... Court ‘Not guilty as indictment facts not proven’

Prosecutors indicted, “Investment recommended with guaranteed principal and high returns, no intention to return investment money.”
Court: “All remittance details cannot be considered investment funds, and there is no proof that the principal amount is guaranteed.”

There was a case in which a man in his 60s was found not guilty in the first trial who was accused of defrauding an acquaintance of hundreds of millions of won under the pretext of investing in virtual currency.

It was confirmed that Changwon District Court Criminal Division 1 Chief Judge Jeong Yun-taek ruled on the 5th of last month that Mr. A, in his 60s, was indicted on fraud charges, saying, “The defendant is not guilty.”

Mr. A recommended investing in virtual currency to Mr. B, who had become close to him through his daily help. Mr. B responded and sent approximately 400 million won to Mr. A 81 times over a period of 3 years and 6 months, but did not receive any money back.

The prosecution charged Mr. A with fraud, believing that he had deceived Mr. B into making an investment even though he had no intention or ability to pay from the beginning.

Mr. A completely denied the charges. Mr. A refuted, “I never promised to guarantee the principal to Mr. B,” and “The reason the money was not returned was because the investment failed and a loss occurred. It is not that there was no intention to pay.”

In addition, he said, “There are many personal items, such as receiving money on behalf of errands at the request of Mr. B,” and claimed, “All the money sent from Mr. B cannot be considered investment money.”

Changwon District Court Chief Judge Jeong Yun-taek, who heard the case, sentenced Mr. A not guilty.

Chief Judge Jeong Yun-taek said, “When looking at the remittance details, it includes many small amounts that are difficult to consider as investments,” and judged, “It is difficult to view all of the remittance acts listed in the indictment as investment proceeds.”

“The victim continued to send money for a long period of time even though he did not actually earn any profit,” the ruling continued. “The credibility of the testimony is weak, as he said he did not know much about virtual currency even though he made several money transfers for virtual currency transactions.”

At the same time, it was judged that the facts of the indictment were not proven beyond a reasonable doubt, saying, “It has not been clearly proven that the defendant lied about guaranteeing the principal and high profits.”

Attorney Song Jae-baek of Daeryun Law Firm (Limited), who represented the defendant A in this lawsuit, explained, “In order to be recognized as guilty of a specific indictment, evidence with enough probative power to be beyond ‘reasonable doubt’ is needed,” and explained, “In this case, no reasonable evidence, such as a recording file or memorandum, was submitted to support Mr. B’s claim, and the court appears to have also taken this into consideration.”

Reporter Son Dong-wook (twson@lawleader.co.kr)

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A person in his 60s accused of fraud for not returning the principal invested in virtual currency... Court finds him 'not guilty' as the indictment was not proven (Shortcut)