On the 7th, it was learned that prosecutors gave up appealing after former Mesh Korea CEO Yoo Jeong-beom, founder of the delivery agency Start - Up VROONG, was acquitted on appeal of breach of trust charges. Earlier, Yoo had been sentenced to four years in prison at the first trial. It is considered unusual for prosecutors to forgo an appeal and allow a defendant to finalize an acquittal in a case where the first and second trials reached different conclusions on guilt.
According to legal sources, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 9-2 (Presiding Judge Min Ji-hyeon, senior judge) on the 30th ruled not guilty for Yoo on the second trial of the breach of trust case under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
Prosecutors did not file an appeal with the court by the 6th, the end of the seven-day appeal period. A prosecution official said, "It was sufficiently proven during the appellate proceedings that former CEO Yoo's monetary expenditure was for the purpose of corporate rehabilitation rather than for defending management control, so we determined there was nothing to contest at the Supreme Court level." As a result, Yoo's acquittal has been finalized.
This has prompted various remarks in the legal community. Until now, when a guilty verdict at first instance was overturned to not guilty on appeal, prosecutors typically appealed to seek a ruling from the Supreme Court.
One legal professional said, "It stands out that prosecutors gave up an appeal as President Lee Jae-myung has put the brakes on the prosecution's mechanical practice of appealing, and as the government and the ruling party are moving to abolish the breach of trust offense."
In Sept., at a Cabinet meeting, the president told Minister of Justice Jeong Seong-ho, "Prosecutors indict cases that won't hold, and when acquittals come out, they appeal to seek immunity, causing the public pain." The government and the ruling party have also pushed for legal amendments to abolish the breach of trust offense. The president has been indicted on charges including breach of trust in the Daejang-dong case.
A legal professional with a prosecutorial background said, "Even though abolishing the breach of trust offense or restricting appeals has not yet been codified, isn't the prosecution already moving toward not appealing in breach of trust acquittal cases?"
Meanwhile, Yoo was indicted in Aug. 2023. As the company's situation worsened, Yoo is said to have hired a consulting firm in 2022 to find a buyer. He reportedly paid 3 billion won in advisory fees to this firm.
However, hy (formerly Korea Yakult), which acquired VROONG, filed a complaint against Yoo, saying he spent 3 billion won without a board resolution or court approval.
The appellate court said, "Even if Yoo paid 3 billion won in advisory fees, it bought time to negotiate with a buyer on better terms, and hy, in the meantime, gained the opportunity to acquire, so it did not cause (the company) a loss."
Attorneys Kim Seong-hwan and Kang Dong-hyeok of Lee & Ko, representing Yoo, argued, "It is a ruling that recognized the act of paying advisory fees to save a company in crisis as a lawful business judgment."