Min Yu-seong, 71, a former head of Korea Development Bank, who was indicted on charges of receiving a large sum in return for conducting legal work without a lawyer's license during the Lotte Group management control dispute, was sentenced on appeal to two years in prison, suspended for four years, and forfeiture of 390 million won. Both the sentence and the forfeiture were reduced compared with the first-instance sentence of three years in prison and forfeiture of 19.8 billion won.
The Criminal Appeals Division 8-2 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Choi Hae-il, Choi Jin-suk, and Cha Seung-hwan) delivered this ruling on the Attorney‑at‑Law Act charges on the 19th.
The case arose around 2015, when the Lotte Group management control dispute intensified, as SDJ Corporation Chairman Shin Dong-ju pursued civil, criminal, and administrative procedures at home and abroad to regain control. Prosecutors alleged that from Oct. 2015 to Aug. 2017, although he had no lawyer's license, the former bank chief devised litigation strategies for Shin's side, oversaw case progress, and led the retention of attorneys, effectively performing legal work, and that he received about 19.8 billion won in return, and brought him to trial.
In the first instance, the court found that the former bank chief's conduct constituted unlicensed legal work contrary to the purpose of the attorney system and sentenced him to three years in prison and forfeiture of 19.8 billion won. In contrast, the appellate court found it difficult to conclude that the contract with Shin's side was, overall, a contract premised on legal work. The court did not accept the prosecution's argument that the management consulting service contract was a legal contract, and determined that merely establishing plans for criminal and administrative matters did not make it a legal contract.
However, the appellate court found him guilty on the part concerning overall tasks for conducting litigation, including the selection of attorneys. Accordingly, it limited the scope of forfeiture to that part and ordered 390 million won.