Lee, a former secretary of No So-young, the director of Art Center Nabi, has been sentenced to five years in prison in a second trial regarding allegations of embezzling 2.1 billion won from the director's personal funds. This is the same sentence as in the first trial. No is currently undergoing a divorce lawsuit with Chey Tae-won, the chairman of SK Group.
On the 29th, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 9-3 sentenced Lee, who had served as the secretary to Director No So-young at Art Center Nabi, to five years in prison in the second trial for allegations of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
According to the prosecution, Lee is accused of using No's identification card to obtain a loan amounting to 438 million won under No's name during the four years from 2019, when he joined Art Center Nabi, until 2023. There are also allegations that he transferred and used deposits of approximately 1.194 billion won that were deposited in No's account to his own account.
Lee was indicted for fraud and other charges after embezzling a total of 2.132 billion won, including instructing an Art Center staff member to transfer 500 million won while impersonating Director No. In the first trial, most of the charges against him were acknowledged as guilty, resulting in a five-year prison sentence.
In this second trial, the court re-evaluated some aspects of how Lee's charges should be punished under the law and overturned the original ruling, but maintained the sentence of five years in prison. The second trial court stated, "Considering that Lee abused the trust of No by taking advantage of his position as a secretary and the fact that he has misappropriated property for a long time, I deem the nature of the crime to be serious."