It has been revealed that insurance planners affiliated with MetLife Insurance and KB Life Partners, a corporate insurance agency (GA) subsidiary of KB Life Insurance, were involved in the 'PS Financial Ponzi scheme (multi-level financial fraud)' that is expected to result in damages of 260 billion won. They approached acquaintances, offering financial planning services and sold PS Financial products during the insurance sales process. A PS Financial employee noted, 'We encouraged insurance planners to sell our products as a side job.'
In particular, some insurance planners were also confirmed to have sold art tech products, including Gallery K, which has come under police investigation for another Ponzi fraud allegation. After issues arose with the sale of Gallery K, many insurance planners moved to other insurance companies' GAs to sell PS Financial products.
According to comprehensive coverage by ChosunBiz on the 4th, four individuals, including Im, the representative of PS Financial, and Min, who manages four subordinate sales organizations, are all former or current insurance planners. Notably, Representative Lee is known to have previously worked in corporate sales at MetLife. A PS Financial official described PS Financial as 'a lending company created by insurance planners.'
The insurance planners who sold PS Financial products had contracts stipulating that they would receive a 3% commission on the recruited amount. They approached customers using business cards from reputable large insurance companies and GAs, selling both insurance and PS Financial products together. In this process, the insurance planners reportedly said, 'Enroll in a single premium insurance product and later withdraw the money to invest in PS Financial,' 'Because I helped you enroll in PS Financial, you should also purchase additional insurance,' and 'You need to join insurance to be eligible for the higher interest rate PS Financial product.'
A man identified as A, who enrolled in a whole life insurance policy through a MetLife Insurance planner, invested 120 million won in PS Financial products after receiving a recommendation post-enrollment. Subsequently, this planner pressured A to enroll in additional insurance for introducing him to PS Financial, and A ended up taking out two more policies, paying a monthly premium of 1.15 million won. Initially, A paid his insurance premiums using interest received from PS Financial, but after falling into a state of uncollectibility, he could no longer afford the premiums and stopped payments.
This situation has exposed the frequent occurrence of similar solicitation activities in insurance sales involving various investment products. It has been revealed that insurance planners selling PS Financial products also sold products from Gallery K, which has raised Ponzi fraud suspicions. Gallery K and similar art tech investments involve joint purchasing of art pieces, with profits shared from exhibitions and loans of the artworks. However, since last year, police have launched investigations due to allegations of a fraudulent scheme redistributing new investments as profits to existing investors.
A man in his 20s, identified as B, who invested 300 million won in PS Financial, received a recommendation for Gallery K products from an insurance planner at Mirae Asset Financial Services, to which he made a small investment. However, when repayment was not made last July, the insurance planner reportedly returned the funds from his own pocket. C, a webtoon artist, also stated that he was advised to invest in Gallery K by a MetLife-affiliated planner who recommended PS Financial products. He mentioned, 'I was recommended Gallery K, but a couple of months later, I was told, 'It seems like it’s not art tech, so let’s just invest in PS Financial.'
Some insurance planners who sold Gallery K products reportedly moved to other insurance companies' GAs to sell PS Financial products alongside insurance once issues arose. However, the Financial Supervisory Service did not initiate any special investigations regarding Gallery K. They cited that similar solicitation activities should be investigated by the police rather than the financial authorities.
However, the Financial Supervisory Service has begun on-site inspections of PS Finance Service, a subsidiary of PS Financial on par with Mirae Asset Financial Services. A FSS official stated, 'PS Finance Service is closely related to the current PS Financial situation which is why we've conducted inspections, but Gallery K appears to be a separate matter,' adding, 'Similar solicitation activities are subject to criminal penalties, and all we can do is collaborate with law enforcement.'
A MetLife Insurance official noted, '(Most of the planners implicated in this incident have been dismissed or are expected to be dismissed),' and added, 'There have been complaints regarding the dismissed planners, and we are confirming whether there was improper selling during the sales process.' He stated, 'We will also incorporate this case into training materials to raise awareness.'