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Ex-President Chun’s nephew sentenced to 18 months for fraud

September 16, 2015
chun

Former President Chun Doo-hwan

SEOUL (Yonhap) — A Seoul court on Thursday sentenced a nephew of former President Chun Doo-hwan to 18 months in prison for swindling hundreds of millions of won by taking advantage of his family ties to the former president.

The Seoul Central District Court convicted Cho Il-cheon, 58, of fraud for swindling some 300 million won (US$250,000) from the plaintiff, surnamed Kim, between November 2010 and April 2013.

Cho fooled the victim by saying he is the nephew of Chun and that he would manage funds, some hundreds of billions of won, coming from Hong Kong. He also said he would invest in Kim’s business but instead took the money and ran.

“While he is repenting of his crimes, the amount of money involved is huge and the damage done to Kim have not been recovered at all,” Judge Chun Ki-cheol said.

Cho was previously convicted in an unrelated fraud case and served prison time.

Chun, who seized power through a military coup in 1979, was ordered by the Supreme Court in 1997 to return to state coffers some 220 billion won he had accumulated illegally while in office from 1981 to 1988.