A real estate agent who deceived a trust company and took 100 million won in commissions... How did the court reach a ‘not guilty’ verdict?

Submitted to a trust company by manipulating documents, including inflating the introduction fee... Take 160 million
The court said, “The trust company pays the fee after checking the supporting materials…there is no causal relationship with the defendant’s actions.”

A real estate agent who was indicted on charges of defrauding a trust company and collecting commissions was found not guilty.

On the 6th of last month, the Changwon District Court found Mr. A, in his 50s, not guilty on charges of fraud.

Mr. A was accused of collecting about 160 million won in sales agency fees by preparing false service contract documents in 2015 and submitting them to a trust company.

The prosecution believed that Mr. A used his business status to collect fees from the trust company by pretending that he had recruited union members. In addition, it was determined that the submitted documents contained a higher amount than the referral fee (MGM fee) actually paid.

Accordingly, Mr. A claimed that he only complied with the request of the head of a local housing association to lend his name to facilitate smooth payment of brokerage fees, and that he had no intention of defrauding profits.

He also emphasized that the fee charged to the trust company was not a false statement, saying it was the amount actually paid.

The court found Mr. A not guilty. The court said, “There is no basis for prohibiting the defendant from receiving fees for union members recruited by a third party, such as no restrictions on the method of recruiting union members in the concluded service contract,” and added, “It is permissible to recruit union members or adoptees through a third party, etc. and receive a fee.”

He added, “The trust company paid the fee after checking evidential materials such as the number of households sold and the sales agency fee for each household,” adding, “It is difficult to believe that there is a causal relationship between the defendant’s actions and the trust company’s disposition.”

Attorney Jong-Hoon Han of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, explained, “Most of the fees charged to the trust company were actual brokerage fees, and there was no gain for Mr. A as a result.” He added, “It appears that the court found him not guilty because there was no intention to engage in criminal activity.”
 

Reporter Shin Jae-yu (wayjay@sportsseoul.com)

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A real estate agent who deceived a trust company and took 100 million won in commission... How was the court’s ‘not guilty’ verdict reached? (Shortcut)