Hwang Jung-eum, an actress accused of embezzling 4.3 billion KRW ($3.2 million USD) in funds from her company which she owns 100% of, has been sentenced to probation in court.
On the 25th, the second criminal division of the Jeju District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Lim Jae-nam, sentenced Hwang Jung-eum to 2 years in prison, suspended for 4 years.
Hwang Jung-eum was accused of receiving a loan of 800 million KRW ($600,000 USD) in the name of the agency she owns in 2022, then transferring 700 million KRW ($525,000 USD) from the agency's account to her personal account under the guise of advances, which she invested in cryptocurrency. She reportedly invested approximately 4.2 billion KRW ($3.1 million USD) out of the 4.36 billion KRW ($3.2 million USD) embezzled funds in cryptocurrency over a total of 13 transactions until October 2022. Additionally, some of the funds were used for property tax and local tax payments.
Hwang Jung-eum's side acknowledged all the charges in court. They explained, "I thought about growing the company and ended up investing in cryptocurrency. I naively thought that if I just paid back the money, it wouldn't be a problem due to my lack of awareness regarding accounting and procedures, which led to this incident."
During the trial process, the court noted, "The defendant's embezzlement of company funds for speculative investments and personal purchases is not trivial; however, considering that the victim company is one that the defendant holds all shares of, if there is damage to the company, it ultimately reverts to the defendant, as well as the fact that there are no other victims, and that the total amount of damages has been repaid, we have decided on the sentence accordingly." Earlier, the prosecution requested a sentence of 3 years in prison for Hwang Jung-eum.
Meanwhile, Hwang Jung-eum's side stated regarding the verdict, "We respect the court's decision." It is also rumored that she shed tears immediately after the verdict was read in court on that day.