Court: 1 year and 6 months in prison, “unconvincing excuse…imprisonment inevitable”

Court: 1 year and 6 months in prison, “unconvincing excuse…imprisonment inevitable”

(Jeonju = Yonhap News) Reporter Jeong Gyeong-jae = "I said I was having a hard time, so my friend helped me out of good faith."

A man in his 30s who borrowed a large sum of more than 180 million won from a friend and did not repay it ended up behind bars after making a fuss in court.

Jeonju District Court Criminal Division 5 (Chief Judge Moon Joo-hee) announced on the 5th that Mr. A (35), who was indicted on fraud charges, was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison and was detained by the court.

Mr. A was indicted on charges of failing to repay 189 million won borrowed 77 times from his friend B (35) between March 2023 and February 2024.

It started at a wedding hall in Gunsan-si, Jeollabuk-do on March 11, 2023.

Mr. A promised to Mr. B, “I am doing this because my circumstances are difficult. If you lend me the congratulatory money, I will repay you tomorrow.”

At this time, he started by borrowing 450,000 won and continued to ask for money from his friends, citing reasons such as 'I need funds to run the bar I run with my partner' and 'living expenses are not enough'.

Whenever Mr. B hesitated to lend money, Mr. A persuaded him by saying, "The interim settlement of the company's severance pay will come out soon," "I put the bar on the market, so I will repay it as soon as it is sold," and "My mom and dad say they will take care of the money."

However, Mr. A's economic situation was so bad that he could not repay his existing debts, and he even took out a loan from a friend and used the money lent to him as gambling funds.

When he was brought to court for this matter, he said, "My friend was well aware of my difficult situation. In the past, when I was having a hard time, he gave me 600,000 won to 'solve my accommodation'," and claimed that Mr. B had helped with some of the debt in good faith.

However, the court did not accept the defendant's argument, considering that Mr. A repeatedly borrowed money from Mr. B by falsely revealing a detailed debt repayment plan.

The court ruled, "As a result of this incident, the victim is suffering considerable mental and economic suffering as he is burdened with financial institution debt exceeding 100 million won. However, the defendant denies the crime and consistently makes an unconvincing excuse, saying, 'The victim gave the money in good faith,' so a prison sentence is inevitable."