It took 1181 days.."1.16 billion won embezzlement". What's the final conclusion? [synthesis]

*This content was translated by AI.

This is the real final conclusion that will come out 1,181 days after the first trial on November 21, 2022. The Supreme Court's final ruling on the embezzlement and breach of trust of broadcaster Park Soo-hong's brother and his wife was decided at the end of February.

On the 26th, the Supreme Court's first division (F) will hold a date to declare a violation of the law on the aggravated punishment of certain economic crimes by Park Soo-hong's brother, Park, and his brother-in-law, Lee.

At the time of the complaint, Park Soo-hong said that in April 2021, his brother and his wife embezzled corporate funds and used their performance fees for personal living expenses without permission, adding, "The amount they embezzled amounts to 11.6 billion won." Afterwards, the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office arrested them and immediately requested an arrest warrant.

Since then, the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office has called Park Soo-hong, Park Soo-hong's brother and his wife, and the father of two brothers to conduct a cross-examination. In the process, Park Soo-hong's father, who attended the cross-examination, verbally abused and assaulted Park Soo-hong, saying, "Don't you even say hello?" and Park Soo-hong fainted in shock and was taken to the emergency room. Subsequently, Park Soo-hong received emergency treatment and joined the cross-examination by wire at home. Regarding the reason for the cross-examination, the prosecution explained, "This is because the complainant requested a complementary investigation into the suspect and the complainant's father."

Regarding the prosecution of Park and his wife, the prosecution judged that they arbitrarily spent a total of 6.17 billion won, including △ 1.9 billion won in false accounting for labor costs △ 1.17 billion won in funds from agencies for real estate purchases △ 90 million won in unauthorized use of funds from agencies △ 90 million won in use of credit cards from agencies △ 2.9 billion won in unauthorized withdrawal from Park Soo-hong's account. The prosecution initially considered the amount of embezzlement to be about 2.1 billion won at the time of the request for an arrest warrant, but believes there is 4.1 billion won more through additional investigation.

The prosecution, however, considered it difficult to form a crime on its own because policyholders, veterinarians, and insurance payment entities were the same for each insurance contract, and judged that Park was the sole offender for the 2.9 billion won in personal damage related to allegations that Park was trying to avoid punishment by using kinship rituals.

In the first trial, the prosecution demanded seven years and three years in prison, respectively, and the court found Park guilty of embezzling 2 billion won in company money, but sentenced him to two years in prison for stealing Park Soo-hong's money worth 1.6 billion won. Lee was acquitted, saying it was difficult to prove an accomplice. Both sides appealed to this.

It was confirmed that the amount of embezzlement they admitted totaled more than 2 billion won for Lael and Media Boom. The two, who were found guilty in the first trial, were found guilty of embezzling money by using Park's corporate card under the name of Park Soo-hong's management company for personal use, listing false employees in the company, and embezzling company funds for the purpose of spending personal lawyer appointment with the company's funds and purchasing other personal items.

Park Soo-hong attended the appeal hearing as a witness following the first trial and said, "I'm sorry about the first trial's ruling, but I thought it was too unfair, so I told you I really wanted to testify," adding, "I felt sorry to see them use my assets as they please because it's a family company." "Even if they calculated that they collected the salaries and dividends they received over the past four years without spending a won from the real estate they acquired between 2014 and 2017, they are 2 billion won short," he/she said.

Park Soo-hong said, "I heard 'financial technology for you' from my brother and wife. There was no real estate in my name until the partnership was terminated. "Everyone only has real estate that they share 50% of," he said. "It is absolutely not possible for other people to (take care of) profits as collateral for one person's sacrifice, even if it is a family. This should not happen again," he stressed.

In the subsequent appeal, the prosecution demanded seven years in prison for Park and three years for Lee, and falsely claimed that Park used a large amount of money for Park Soo-hong even though he repeatedly embezzled it for a long time, concealing his use and recovering the damage. Despite the fact that celebrity Park Soo-hong's image may be damaged, the defendant is avoiding responsibility. "I considered that it was a first-time offender, but considering the duration, amount, and attitude of the crime, severe punishment is inevitable," he said.

On the other hand, Park and Lee's lawyers appealed for leniency, claiming that "Park's allegations of embezzlement in business cannot be denied, but please consider the fact that most of the money was delivered to the complainant (Park Soo-hong), and that the plaintiff's repayment is delayed due to seizure." In his final statement, Park said, "I am living with a feeling of reflection on what happened because of my negligence. This incident is causing the family to have a hard time dealing with it. I will never repeat the same path again," he said.

Subsequently, the Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 7 held an appeal hearing on the charges on December 19, 2025 and arrested Park in court, saying, "There is a fear of escape," along with a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence. In addition, Lee was partially convicted and ordered a year in prison, two years of probation, and 120 hours of community service.

The second trial court said it would reverse the acquittal in the first trial, pointing out Lee's use of corporate cards after pointing out the details of his acquittal in the first trial. The court considered Lee's use of the corporate card, which he used while being listed as an inside director of Media Boom, as "participated in the breach of duty." "The use of the corporate card is the purchase cost of gift certificates at department stores, marts, and shopping centers, exercise center tickets, educational services such as Taekwondo academies, math academies and workbooks for teenagers, amusement park tickets, and children's cafe tickets, all of which cannot be recognized as related to the victims' work at all. The amount is about 96 million won, he explained.

At the same time, the court said, "This case, as a family company, abused the characteristics of victims with weak internal surveillance systems and the trust of Park Soo-hong, a brotherhood relationship, and beyond violating the property interests of victims who are direct victims of embezzlement, it disrupted the tax order that must be maintained soundly, and further resulted in significant property and mental damage to Park Soo-hong, a real victim."

"In light of the poor quality of the crime and the seriousness of the consequences of the crime, severe punishment equivalent to guilt is inevitable," he said. "As a result of tracking the funds and the flow of funds, the defendant's outflow from the victims of the crime seems to have been used to acquire personal assets such as real estate under the name of the Park couple, and as a family member of a famous celebrity, he used the income of the complainant, which was formed based on the interest, love and trust received from the public, not only to completely betray Park Soo-hong's trust but also to cause a pessimistic controversy such as moral hazard in our society."

The court continued, "We cannot accept the reimbursement of some of the damages of the Park couple. Even if they paid off, the source of the original funds of the affected companies is Park Soo-hong's income, so the actual victim of embezzlement and breach of trust is Park Soo-hong." He also said, "Park did not recover any damage to Park Soo-hong, the actual victim of the case, until the second trial, and he did not appear to have made any effort to do so, and Park Soo-hong is repeatedly pleading for severe punishment against Park in the second trial following the original trial."

Finally, the court added, "All crimes related to Park's arrest today include violations of the law on aggravated punishment of certain crimes that he found guilty, namely embezzlement and professional malpractice."

Attention is focusing on what final ruling the Supreme Court will answer the 1,181-day battle over Park Soo-hong's family.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.