The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said on the 16th that it has additionally recovered 2.28 billion won out of the 75.17 billion won forfeiture imposed on Kim Jae-hyun, former Optimus Asset Management CEO and the main culprit in the Optimus fund fraud case.
According to prosecutors that day, Kim was indicted on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes for raising more than 1.3 trillion won in investments from 2018 to 2020 by saying he would invest in accounts receivable of public institutions and using the money to acquire bad debt and roll over the fund. In 2020, the Supreme Court finalized his sentence of 40 years in prison, a fine of 500 million won, and a forfeiture of 75.17 billion won.
Earlier, in Dec. 2020, prosecutors preserved for forfeiture 2.85 million shares of unlisted stock in Company A that Kim owned under a borrowed-name corporation, and said they were able to receive 2.28 billion won by selling them.
In connection with the Optimus case, after the guilty verdict was finalized in July 2022, prosecutors have been enforcing forfeiture by securing borrowed-name investment funds actually owned by Kim, resort membership rights, and a jeonse deposit in his wife's name. Including the 2.28 billion won recovered this time, the total amount recovered so far comes to 21.66 billion won.
Prosecutors said, "The additionally recovered forfeiture will be returned to victims in accordance with relevant laws," adding, "We will continue to strip illicit gains through thorough recovery of criminal revenue and do our utmost to help victims recover their losses."