After leaving his job at an investment-related company, the client opened an open chat room to follow up with 10 clients he had managed. Later, he opened another open chat room with plans to start a business after filing a pseudo-investment advisory business registration. The client did not engage in any activities such as stock recommendations in the above two chat rooms, but there were accusations that the client provided investment advice without filing a pseudo-investment advisory business registration and received compensation, and the case was prosecuted for violating the Capital Market and Financial Investment Business Act. ■ Case Issues The client had recommended stock stocks to about 10 people, but it was a follow-up to the work he had done before leaving the company, and he had never recommended stock stocks in public open chat rooms. The issue was whether the client had provided investment advice to an unspecified number of people and whether he had received compensation from about 10 people. The defense team of Ongang Law Firm argued that the client's former company's business should not be considered as a business after the fact.

The suspect told the client, "A civic organization and a hospital will move into the building owned by a corporation of which he is the CEO, and when they move in, he will immediately pay the debt with a deposit of KRW 2 billion." The suspect registered the client as the secondary beneficiary in the building's trust ledger and borrowed a total of KRW 1.7 billion from the client. The suspect then told the client that he would repay the loan if the client removed his status as the secondary beneficiary in order to obtain a new loan, and if he did not repay the loan, he would list him as the secondary beneficiary. However, when the client investigated, it turned out that A civic organization had no plans to move into the building, and the hospital was only in the process of inquiring. In addition, the suspect only repaid a partial amount of KRW 700 million and did not list the client as the secondary beneficiary. The client filed a lawsuit against the suspect for violation of the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specified Economic Crimes (fraud), but the case was dismissed due to lack of suspicion, and the client filed an appeal.

The client was charged with defrauding the victims of approximately 26 million won ($26,000) worth of gift certificates at a carrot market by randomly capturing photos of mobile gift certificates posted by the victims and exchanging them. ■ Case Issues The investigating agency requested an arrest warrant for the client on the grounds that the crime was serious, there was a high likelihood of future recidivism, and there was a possibility of evidence destruction, given the client's long period of criminal activity, the sophistication of the crime, and the client's actions to avoid detection during the crime. The investigating agency also suspected that the client had committed many additional crimes in addition to this crime, based on the client's account transaction history. The defense team of Ongang Law Firm decided to confess to the crime and admit to the additional crimes suspected by the investigative agency, as it was difficult to deny the crime and contest the charges, as important evidence had already been secured during the investigation, such as the seizure of all the gift certificates. And

A warrant was sought for your client's arrest on charges that he profited from recruiting members to an unauthorized private home trading system (HTS). ■ Case Issues The client admitted to some of the allegations, but denied that he was a member recruiter for some periods of time and acted as a direct investor, which the police suspected and sought an arrest warrant for. Ongang's lawyers collected evidence to prove that the client was not trying to minimize the crime, hiding evidence, or not cooperating with the investigation. In addition, Ongang's lawyers argued that the client's residence was consistent, he provided his cell phone password, and he was supporting his minor child alone. As a result, the client was able to undergo the investigation without being detained.

The client received a certain amount of money from a man in an intimate relationship in the name of old age expenses, tax savings, and living expenses, and later paid alimony to his wife due to an adultery lawsuit, and the man sued the client for extortion, claiming that he was forced to give the money because the client threatened to inform his wife of the adultery. The client was forced to confess to the crime due to police coercion during the police investigation due to his fragile personality, and subsequently visited Ongang Law Firm. Ongang Law Firm's defense team responded by submitting an opinion letter to the prosecutor, emphasizing that the client was forced to make statements different from the facts due to police coercion. The defense team of Ong Kang Law Firm submitted an amicus curiae brief to the prosecution, emphasizing that the money was a gift in light of the relationship with the complainant and the circumstances that led to the payment.

The client had no intention or ability to sell the goods in the first place, but as he was struggling to make ends meet, he posted articles selling goods on Naver's Used Nara Café to secure cash, and extorted payment for the goods from the victims who contacted him. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office requested an arrest warrant based on these alleged fraudulent facts. The client came to our firm in connection with the 'warrant substantive examination' to determine whether the court should arrest him. ■ Case Issues ➊ The client did not have a distinct residence until the time of his arrest; ➋ The case was a serious one, with hundreds of victims, so the client was concerned about flight and evidence destruction; and ➌ There was no settlement with the victims at all. If the victims were not reimbursed at all, there was a high probability that they would be imprisoned, so a settlement was necessary. Law Firm

The client operated a coworking space and had a lease agreement with the complainant. The complainant did not move his residence after the lease expired and did not pay the landlord for mail storage after the lease expired. Nevertheless, the complainant accused the client of embezzlement, alleging that the client kept the mail sent to the complainant's address after the lease expired and refused to return the mail after receiving the complainant's request to return the mail. ■ Issues Whether to terminate the lease agreement between the client and the complainant, whether to settle the costs of the complainant's relocation and mail storage, whether to recognize the client's status as a custodian in connection with the embezzlement offense, whether to recognize the intent to illegally obtain, and whether the accused had specific notice of harm in connection with the blackmail offense. Resolution of the Issues Ongang Law Firm's defense team won the case.

Our client was charged with fraud for calling victims posing as investigators from a voice-phishing call center set up by an ethnic Korean mastermind and directing them to forward money to collectors. The case involved the arrest and detention of the mastermind, who was in China, and then the subsequent arrest and detention of the members of the organization who worked with him. All of the members of the voice phishing organization were detained except for our client, and our client came to us to avoid imprisonment, so he pleaded with us to help him get a suspended sentence. In this case, our client was asked to come to Law Offices of Onkang to help him avoid imprisonment and to be sentenced to probation. ■ Case Issues In recent years, the level of punishment for forwarders and withdrawal agents, which are the lower-level agents in voice phishing cases, has been increased, and unless an agreement is reached with the victims, they will be sentenced to imprisonment. Therefore, it was necessary to prevent our client from being detained during the investigation or trial process.

The client is a person who left Korea for the United States in the 1990s and lives in the U.S. Recently, while preparing various documents to return to Korea to spend his old age, the client learned that the prosecutor's office had a case pending against him (interim disposition due to the suspect's unknown whereabouts). The client came to our firm because he was worried that he might encounter problems during or after his entry into the country due to the pending fraud, forgery, and forgery of documents case. The case is that the client forged a lease agreement and provided it to the complainant, and then extorted money as collateral for the lease deposit. Our lawyers consulted with the client, who lives in the United States, via video call to confirm the details of the case, and after confirming that the handwriting on the lease agreement was not the client's handwriting at all, our lawyers had the handwriting examined. Based on this, we searched for the contact information of the complainant, called the complainant, and explained the contents of the case. The complainant said that he did not want to be punished.

The client kept the cell phone that the victim had left behind on the bus and kept it to help find the victim, including calling the police, but due to his busy life, he forgot that he had kept the cell phone and left it unattended, and was reported by the victim for theft of possession. The client complained that it was unfair for him to be criminally punished because he had no intention of taking the cell phone, and he was worried about being sued by the victim. Therefore, in this case, it was important for the client to prove that he had no or weak intention of illegal gain, and furthermore, to settle the case amicably with the victim to avoid future civil litigation. After checking the investigation, our lawyers promptly submitted an opinion letter to the police stating that there was no or very weak intent to illegally benefit, and proactively applied for criminal mediation to the prosecutor's office and completed an amicable settlement with the victim during the criminal mediation process. As a result, our client was able to obtain a deferred prosecution and avoid any future civil litigation.