An apartment in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, in danger of being sold for auction due to charter fraud
A builder who signed a lease contract and failed to return the deposit of 12.6 billion won, despite expecting apartments and villas to be auctioned off, was arrested by the police. Police investigation revealed that this builder owned a total of 2,700 apartments and villas in Incheon and Gyeonggi.
The Metropolitan Investigation Unit of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 20th that it had arrested Mr. A (62) on charges of fraud, real-name real estate, and violation of the Licensed Real Estate Agent Act.
On the 17th, Judge Kim Jin-won of the Incheon District Court in charge of warrants issued an arrest warrant requested by the police, saying, “There is a concern regarding fleeing,” during the interrogation of the suspect before the arrest of Mr. A (warrant review).
The police caught 59 charter scammers (including 4 corporations), including Mr. A, 8 certified brokers, and 25 brokerage assistants.
When the police applied for an arrest warrant for Mr. A in January, the Incheon District Court rejected it. At the time, Mr. A said, “I will do my best to compensate for the damage even by disposing of the property.” However, a police official explained, “Mr. A’s new building has been transferred to a trust company, and the real estate he owns in Gangwon-do is under auction.”
Mr. A and others are accused of not returning 12.6 billion won of jeonse deposits for 163 households, including apartments and villas in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, to tenants last year.
The police initially stated in the first arrest warrant that they had stolen 26.6 billion won in deposits from 327 households. A police official said, “We only indicated in the arrest warrant that the crime of Mr. A was determined to be clear,” and “we plan to continue the investigation and add to the rest of the charges.”
As a result of the investigation, it was found that Mr. A owns 2,700 households, including apartments, villas, and officetels, in Incheon and Gyeonggi Province under the names of the rental manager and himself. The police explained that regarding 700 of them have already been auctioned off, and most of the rest will be auctioned off.
A police official said, “Even though the auction was in progress, Mr. A hid this fact and proceeded with the lease contract, causing damage to the tenants.” said. This official said, “Mr. A reached hundreds of millions of won every month on bank loan interest alone, and he also defaulted on national and local taxes.”
Mr. A issued a statement that day and said, “Total real estate assets are 700 billion won, and debts such as loans from the financial sector and tenant deposits are estimated at 530 billion won.” “We apologize for worrying the tenants due to poor management,” he said. ”he added.
Victims of charter fraud in Michuhol-gu urged strict punishment, saying, “Mr. A is not making any efforts to compensate the victim for damages.”
