Young gangsters who went to the office of an illegal stock-tipping chat room and extorted money were partially given reduced sentences on appeal.
According to legal sources on the 30th, the 14th criminal division of the Suwon High Court (High Court Judge Heo Yang-yun) overturned the lower court and sentenced six people, including gang member A, who had been on trial on charges including trespassing on another person's building and committing robbery resulting in injury, to prison terms of 4 years to 7 years and 6 months.
With this ruling, ringleader A, who received 8 years in prison in the first trial, had the sentence reduced to 7 years and 6 months, and two accomplices who had received 7 years were reduced to 6 years and 6 months and 6 years, respectively. The remaining three participants were also given 4 to 5 years in prison.
In March last year, they allegedly stormed into the call center office of a stock investment fraud ring in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, wielding weapons, beat and intimidated resident employees, and fled after stealing 69 million won worth of the virtual currency Tether. Based in the Seongnam area, this gang exploited a vulnerability—the notion that fraudsters who earn money illegally would hesitate to report a robbery to police—to carry out the crime.
In particular, they recruited an insider in the fraud ring and showed meticulous planning by obtaining the office's exact address and commuting hours in advance. The day before the job, they collectively bought weapons and gloves, and on the day, they moved in lockstep after setting operational guidelines by dividing into a team to raid the boss's office and a team to monitor employees.
Because of their violent actions, one member of the fraud ring had three teeth broken and was diagnosed with three weeks of recovery. One participant who had been arrested and was in custody even threatened retaliation, telling a victim he ran into by chance in prison, "When did we use weapons?" and pressing the victim to change the statement.
On appeal, some defendants claimed they did not lead the crime and were not deeply involved, protesting their innocence, but the court did not accept this. The panel pointed out that they targeted an illegal group, purchased weapons in large quantities, strictly divided roles, and carried out a planned daytime robbery, making the nature of the crime very bad.
However, it explained that it slightly lowered the sentences in consideration of the fact that at this stage of the trial some settlements were reached with the victims and the victims expressed that they did not want punishment. Meanwhile, the call center employees who were robbed by the gangsters also turned out to be part of another criminal group that ran a stock fraud scheme exceeding 1.2 billion won, and all were arrested by police.