Case Type: Criminal

Result: Acquittal

Case Detail:

Suhn Law Group’s Criminal Defense Team, led by Attorney OH Seung-jun, represented a client who was indicted as an accomplice to fraud after using a real estate consulting company in the course of selling a villa in Seoul. It was later revealed that the consulting company had been involved in an organized jeonse fraud scheme involving so-called “empty jeonse” properties and nominee purchasers. The client maintained that they had believed the transaction was a legitimate sale of their property and had no knowledge of the scheme to misappropriate jeonse deposits or the roles played by the other participants.

Suhn Law Group’s Criminal Defense Team focused its defense on distinguishing between the client’s involvement in the real estate transaction and actual knowledge of, or participation in, the alleged jeonse fraud scheme. The team demonstrated in detail, based on the circumstances of the transaction and the flow of funds, that there had been no prior personal relationship or evidence of planning the scheme together between the client and the members of the fraud organization; that the client had not been aware of the use of nominee purchasers or the structure for misappropriating jeonse deposits; and that the client had not understood the specific distribution structure of commissions or rebates. The team also carefully examined the client’s actual role and the extent of the financial benefits received. Through multiple rounds of witness examinations, the defense further established that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the client had known of or participated in the fraud scheme in advance.

The court accepted the defense arguments and acquitted the client, finding that it was difficult to establish either a conspiracy between the client and the principal participants in the jeonse fraud scheme or the client’s criminal intent to commit fraud, even though the principal participants had been sentenced to imprisonment. Suhn Law Group’s Criminal Defense Team closely analyzed each defendant’s actual role and scope of knowledge in this complex jeonse fraud case and demonstrated that mere involvement in a real estate transaction does not, by itself, establish criminal liability as an accomplice.

Case Inquiry: Attorney OH Seung-jun