Referred two acquaintances to illegal stock-tip operation in Cambodia
Acquitted at trial, convicted on appeal with 18-month sentence
Claimed he never received promised incentive payments
Court: failure to collect payment does not negate criminal liability
A man in his 40s who referred two acquaintances to an illegal stock-tip operation based in Cambodia has had his prison sentence upheld. The man argued he had not known the operation was illegal and that he never received the incentive payments he had been promised — but the Supreme Court rejected both claims. A person who knowingly facilitates a crime can be punished even without receiving financial gain, the court ruled.
The Supreme Court's First Division, presided over by Justice Ma Yong-ju, confirmed on Oct. 1 the lower court's sentence of one year and six months in prison against the man, identified only as A, on charges of joining and participating in a criminal organization, aiding and abetting fraud, and aiding and abetting violations of the Capital Markets Act.
The court said the lower court's ruling contained no errors — including no failure to conduct necessary deliberation, no violation of the rules of logic and experience, no departure from the limits of free evaluation of evidence, no misapplication of law regarding the credibility of testimony, the principle of direct examination, the intent required for aiding and abetting, the causal link between an act of assistance and the principal offense, no contradictions or omissions in reasoning, no overlooked issues, and no violation of the principle of legality.
A was indicted in 2024 on charges of helping the operation by introducing two acquaintances to the Korea-based coordinator of an organization running an illegal stock-tip scheme in Cambodia. Investigators found that A relayed job-related questions from the acquaintances to the coordinator, passed along the coordinator's replies, connected them via a Telegram chat room, and forwarded passport photos needed to purchase flights to Cambodia.
According to facts established by the court, the organization approached victims by posing as employees of a well-known overseas investment advisory firm and promising high returns. Victims were then directed to sign up for a fake investment website and hand over money under the guise of investment funds. No actual stock trading took place. When victims tried to withdraw their supposed profits, the organization demanded additional payments in the form of taxes or fees. The scheme claimed 30 victims and caused losses of approximately 2.41 billion won ($1.81 million).
Prosecutors — now operating under the restructured prosecution service — originally charged A with joining and actively participating in a criminal organization and conspiring with its members to commit fraud and violate the Capital Markets Act. The trial court acquitted A in February last year, however, finding insufficient evidence to support those charges.
Prosecutors appealed, and in the second trial maintained the original charges as the primary count while adding aiding and abetting fraud and aiding and abetting violations of the Capital Markets Act as alternative counts — seeking to hold A liable for facilitating the crimes even if direct participation could not be proven.
The appellate court also found the evidence insufficient to establish that A had joined the criminal organization or acted as a co-perpetrator. It noted that A had never traveled to Cambodia and had introduced only two people on a one-time basis without recruiting additional members.
The appellate court nonetheless found A guilty on the aiding and abetting counts. It determined that A had been sufficiently aware that referring acquaintances to the operation could result in fraud victims, citing testimony from the Korea-based coordinator that the coordinator had explained the illegal stock-tip scheme to A. On that basis, the appellate court overturned the acquittal in June this year and sentenced A to one year and six months in prison.
Throughout the proceedings, A argued that while promised an incentive tied to the sales performance of the acquaintances recruited into the organization, the payment was never actually made. The appellate court dismissed the argument, ruling that "the failure to receive the incentive cannot be considered an obstacle to the establishment of the crime." Once A knowingly connected people to the operation and made it easier to carry out, liability for aiding and abetting attached regardless of whether any payment was received, the court said. The court also cited the scale of the harm — 30 victims and losses exceeding 2.4 billion won — as an aggravating factor in sentencing.
yg@heraldcorp.com
