Korea's Money Laundering case takes a turn: Criminals request a reduced sentence, and the second-instance court directly changes the verdict to four years in prison.

The South Korean judicial system recently disclosed a cryptocurrency crime case that has garnered attention. A man in his 30s was sentenced to four years in prison after the appellate court revoked his probation and modified his sentence, instead of receiving leniency when he requested a reduced sentence. He had used Crypto Assets to launder approximately $68,000 for a voice phishing scam group, leading to a dramatic turn of events in the case.

According to South Korean media “Gyeonggi News,” the man was previously sentenced to two years and six months in prison, with a four-year probation, by a local court in 2024. According to the original ruling, he does not have to go to prison immediately but must be under supervision during the probation period, and any reoffense will result in direct imprisonment. However, the defendant is dissatisfied with the verdict and has appealed to the Suwon High Court, hoping to further reduce the sentence.

The second-instance court ultimately rejected his appeal request and deemed the local court's probation sentence clearly lenient. The judge pointed out that the defendant was not an ordinary participant, but played a “key role” in the voice phishing scam and the Money Laundering chain related to Crypto Assets, having an organizational and commanding nature in the criminal activity, and therefore did not meet the conditions for probation.

The prosecution revealed that the man assisted a fraud gang in converting the victims' funds into Crypto Assets and transferring them to related addresses in China. The fraudsters typically impersonate personnel from the prosecuting agency, falsely claiming that the victims' identities have been stolen and are involved in crimes, inducing them to transfer funds into so-called “safe accounts,” which are actually controlled by criminal organizations, and the funds are immediately emptied.

Although the defendant's lawyer claims that he has agreed to compensate the victims for their losses, the court believes that he has a history of repeatedly participating in similar crimes, and evidence shows that he refers to himself as the “person in charge,” receiving daily action reports and issuing instructions to other members, indicating clear subjective malice.

The court emphasized in its ruling that the defendant, fully aware of the illegality and social harm of voice phishing scams and Crypto Assets Money Laundering, committed the crime again, posing a very high risk of recidivism. This case is also seen as an important signal for South Korea to strengthen its crackdown on “voice phishing scams + Crypto Assets Money Laundering” crimes.

According to South Korean law, the defendant can still appeal to the Supreme Court, but if the final ruling upholds the original judgment, their sentence will be formally executed.