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Must a complaint for damages be filed separately?

I was defrauded in an investment, and the investment amount exceeds 100 million won. It appears to be not merely fraud but also embezzlement, and there are countless victims like me. We intend to join forces and file a complaint together to pursue the case criminally, including for occupational embezzlement. However, I would like to know whether, after filing a criminal complaint for fraud, I must again go through a procedure such as a complaint for damages in order to also receive damages in a civil matter, or whether damages will naturally follow if I prevail in the criminal case.

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Answer to Related Inquiry

Author: 박동일

Criminal trials and civil trials proceed separately.

Article 25 (Compensation Order) of the Act on Special Cases concerning Expedition, etc. of Legal Proceedings provides, with respect to cases such as assault, bodily injury, embezzlement, and destruction of property, that 'when a court pronounces a guilty verdict on any one of the following crimes in the criminal trial procedure of the first or second instance, the court may, on its own authority or upon the application of the victim or the victim's heir (hereinafter referred to as the "victim"), order compensation for the direct property damage, medical expense losses, and consolation money arising from the criminal act in the case.'

Even if a criminal settlement or a criminal compensation order falls through, a separate civil damages lawsuit for a complaint for damages can be pursued.

Criminal proceedings are where the State punishes a criminal act, whereas civil proceedings are a procedure to restore the victim's loss, so the two proceed separately.

However, when a guilty verdict is reached through a criminal complaint, it greatly helps in proving the fact of the loss and liability in a civil lawsuit for a complaint for damages.

Please file a criminal complaint for occupational embezzlement, and separately bring a civil lawsuit to obtain damages for the amount embezzled.

It is also helpful to look for a law firm where criminal and civil attorneys can resolve the case together.