A son who deceived his father to gamble online and squandered approximately 1.7 billion won (about $1.4 million) has been given a suspended sentence.
According to the legal community on May 20th, the Suwon District Court’s Criminal Division 12 (Judge Ha Sang Je) sentenced a man in his 20s to eight months in prison with a two-year suspension for violating the law on the punishment of habitual gambling and stalking crimes.
The man was brought to trial on charges of borrowing approximately 1.7 billion won (about $1.4 million) from his father to gamble online from 2020 to June last year.
The man who was a high school student at the beginning of his crime started engaging in online gambling such as guessing odds or evens and ladder games. To continue gambling, he deceived his father by saying he needed investment money for stocks and virtual currency, manipulating screenshots of his bank account to make it look like he made money from stock investments. Belatedly learning about his son’s gambling addiction, the father refused to continue to give him money, to which the man excessively demanded more from his father over 1,500 times.
The father reported his son under the stalking punishment law, and the court issued a temporary restraining order against him.
The father reported his son to the police and brought him to court. However, after the trial began, he submitted a non-punishment request to the court, asking for leniency.
In response, the court explained its sentencing decision, stating, “We took into consideration the fact that the defendant is reflecting and the victim does not want him to be punished.”
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