Busan Criminal Case Attorney | With a Busan Attorney's Assistance, Concluding a Crime of Fraud Case With a Suspension of Indictment

The client had been sentenced to imprisonment on a fraud charge four years earlier, served the term, was recognized as a model prisoner, and was released on parole.

After release, the client was registered as a basic livelihood recipient and was making a living through day labor amid financial hardship.

However, after the parole, an unexpected legal problem arose.

Ten years earlier, the client had borrowed approximately 20 million won from the victim while misrepresenting the intended use, and had ultimately failed to repay it.

The victim had taken no particular legal action for a long time but then, after the client was released on parole, suddenly filed a criminal complaint against the client for fraud.

Because this was a new fraud charge that had not been dealt with at the time of the earlier trial, the client was worried that his parole might be revoked.

The client eventually went to the victim belatedly and promised an apology and repayment, but the victim was firm in the intention to pursue the complaint.

The client was then questioned by the police and gave a statement admitting all of the charges.

However, the client remained anxious and was particularly concerned about the possibility that this case might result in revocation of his parole.

For this reason, the client decided to obtain the attorney's assistance and came in urgently.

A single comprehensive crime of fraud refers to a case in which several fraudulent acts fall within one set of constituent elements of a crime and constitute a single crime.

In other words, it is the principle that, where the victim is the same and the fraudulent conduct continues consistently, even multiple instances of fraudulent conduct are treated and punished as a single crime.

For example, if fraudulent acts were committed against the same person on several occasions, these are not evaluated as separate independent crimes but are regarded as a single crime of fraud.

In Supreme Court Decision 2016Do11318, rendered October 27, 2016, the court held that, in property crimes such as fraud, where acts of the same kind are repeatedly committed against the same victim over a certain period under a single and continuing criminal intent, the acts taken together may constitute a single comprehensive crime.

The court also held that the singleness and continuity of criminal intent must be reasonably determined by examining the method and manner of each individual offense, the motive for the offenses, the time interval between each offense, and whether the subsequent offenses occurred amid a continuing situation that took advantage of the same opportunity or relationship.

The victim filed a complaint regarding part of the crime of fraud committed by the client, but the statute of limitations for prosecution had already expired for some of those charges.

🔗Habitual Fraud and other forms of fraud carry a 10-year statute of limitations for prosecution, but because some of the fraudulent acts the client committed against the victim occurred beyond that period, the complaint had no effect as to those charges.

As a result, a situation arose in which legal responsibility for some of the charges could no longer be pursued.

Through the attorney's mediation and assistance, the client met the victim in person and conveyed an apology.

The victim initially maintained that there was no intention to settle and wanted punishment, but through the attorney's careful persuasion and advice, the victim continued the conversation with the client.

In the end, the victim withdrew the complaint and expressed an intention not to seek punishment, through which the client obtained an opportunity to avoid punishment.

The attorney actively emphasized that the amount of harm from the fraudulent act the client committed against the victim was small, and devised a strategy to resolve the case.

Taking into account that the amount of harm was not large, the attorney spared no assistance so that a suspension of indictment could be requested.