A conviction or sentence does not always have to mean the end of the road for a defendant. Law Win’s specialized appellate attorneys have brought many compelling cases to the High Courts and the Supreme Court of Korea and have eventually prevailed in overturning numerous convictions at the High Court (Court of Appeals) over the years

Law Win has handled a diverse range of serious fraud cases, often involving offenses worth billions of Korean Won. In most cases, fraud is alleged to have taken place in private companies and each fraud case affects individual industries in different ways.

Fraud cases typically require a great degree of specialized knowledge and experience, both of which Law Win’s attorneys possess in ample supply.

Our firm can handle fraud cases of any complexities and seriousness. We responsibly ensure, that in each case, that our clients benefit from our extensive experience in this complex field of practice.

Whether it is just a simple submission of a false claim for reimbursement or more complex report manipulations, which contain thousands of pages of hospital overhead costs, and financing costs, these deceptions violate 'the Korean Special Act on Prevention of Insurance Fraud'. Since the insurance fraud has a significant impact on the nation’s economy, ‘the Korean Special Act on Prevention of Insurance Fraud’ strictly regulates such conducts of insurance fraud, and conviction for insurance fraud can result in fines of a few million KRW to a life sentence.

Tax evasion is a severe crime in the Republic of Korea. The punishment for the act of concealment, fabrication, and destruction of tax invoices, bills by any individuals and/or companies violates Korean Taxation Act; Punishment of Tax Evaders Act, the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, and etc. of Specific Crimes, is never mild. Whether you are an individual employed by corporation or a business owner who wish to minimize the risks of any tax offenses or in need of tax-planning, Law Win’s qualified tax experts can help and provide advice on the tax impact on specific transactions, income tax, employment taxes, estimated taxes, services taxes, and provincial taxes in efficient ways.

Within definition referred to Article 2 of the Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information (FTRA), “money laundering” includes the following conducts:

(1) Crimes under Article 3 of the Act on the Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment, including (a) concealing or disguising criminal proceeds (including attempts, preparations, and conspiracy), (b) disguising the acquisition or disposition of criminal proceeds, (c) disguising the source of criminal derived proceeds and (d) concealing criminal proceeds for the purpose of encouraging specific crimes, or disguising criminal proceeds as legitimate;

(2) Crimes under Article 7 of the Act on Special Cases concerning the Prevention of Illegal Trafficking in Narcotics (concealment and disguise of illegal profits generally tantamount to those listed in (1));

(3) Disguising the fact of acquisition and disposition of assets or their origin, or concealing such assets for the purpose of committing crimes under Article 3 of the Punishment of Tax Evaders Act, Article 270 of the Customs Act, or Article 8 of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, or for tax evasion purposes; money laundering in South Korea is regulated by the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit (KoFIU), Financial Services Commission (FSC), the Ministry of Strategy and Finance(MOSF), Bank of Korea(BOK), National Tax Service(NTS), National Police Agency(NPS), Korea Customs Service(KCS), Public Prosecutors’ Office (PPO) and the primary anti-money laundering legislations are Act on Reporting and Using Specified Financial Transaction Information, Act on the Prohibition Against the Financing of Terrorism, Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment, Act on Special Cases Concerning the Prevention of Illegal Trafficking in Narcotics, Etc., Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Regulation / Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Regulation.

Undeniably, money laundering is also subject to Korean Criminal Act, Criminal Procedure Act, Foreign Exchange Transaction Act, Act on Real Name Financial Transactions, and Confidentiality. Law Win’s expert criminal defense team has dealt with several cases concerning allegations of money laundering, many of which involved billions of KRW. Law Win is very well-equipped to handle these cases, and we are confident in our ability to guide our clients through the complex process of criminal procedures.

Embezzlement and violation of trust is a typical white-collar crime in the Republic of Korea. The punishments imposed for theft or a breach of trust conviction vary depending on the amount of money involved. In trials, the judge will consider the total sum of money embezzled, or the amount of any pecuniary advantages, the period over which the embezzlement or the breach of trust occurred, the financial harms or damages caused to the victims, the intent of the defendants, and any prior criminal records of financial crime or embezzlement. In Korea, pre-trial detention is often ordered for suspects of theft or breach of trust if there is a risk of fleeing, spoliation of evidence, impeding an investigation. In a situation where an arrest warrant (Pretrial Detention Warrant; 구속) is issued to an individual, he/she needs to consult and get professional legal advice upon the possibility to challenge the warrant. Law Win’s qualified criminal defense attorneys have helped countless individuals to determine the validity of warrants. We are fully committed to protecting our clients’ procedural rights.

There are many different types of (fiduciary) relationships, some of the common examples of fiduciary relationships are relationships between employer and employee, corporate officer and shareholder, accountant and client and doctor, and patient. In South Korea, many of breach of (fiduciary) duty cases often result in jail time because the act of (fiduciary) duty breach itself constitutes criminal offenses according to Commercial Act, Certified Public Accountant Act, Medical Service Act et cetera.

Both giving and taking of a bribe is strictly regulated under Articles 129 to 133 of the Korean Criminal Act, and as of September 28, 2016, a new, wide-reaching, stringent anti-corruption and bribery law came into effect in the Republic of Korea to prohibit bribery and to more strictly enforce rules regulating such offenses under the official name of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act (colloquially, Kim Young-ran Act). Depending on the amounts or the methods a bribe was given or extracted, punishments range from the suspension of qualifications (if convicts are qualified public officials or are in deemed positions) for up to 10 years to prison sentences for up to five years. The prison sentence may be increased to a life sentence if the amount of the bribe is 30 million – 100 million KRW or more (Article 2 of Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes).

Counterfeiting and Forgery are both severe offenses that involve producing, drafting, possessing, and using counterfeit bills, documents, and notes without authority or right. With the intent to defraud or deceive, the conducts considered to be crimes under the Korean Criminal Act are as follows: counterfeiting currency, acquisition of the counterfeited currency, circulation of currency known to be counterfeited, counterfeiting valuable securities, etc., drafting of valuable securities by assuming false capacity, drafting untrue valuable securities, uttering forged valuable securities, forgery of revenue or postage, acquisition of forged postage or revenue stamp, counterfeit or alteration of official document, etc., drafting of official document by assuming false capacity, preparation, etc. of false public document, falsification or alteration of public electromagnetic records, incorrect entry in officially authenticated original deed, uttering of falsified public document, etc., unlawful uttering of official document, counterfeit or alteration of private document, etc., drafting of private document by assuming false capacity, falsification or alteration of private electromagnetic records, preparation of false medical certificate, etc., uttering of a falsified private document, etc., unlawful uttering of a private document, counterfeit or misappropriation of official seal, counterfeit or misappropriation of a private seal, etc.

The Korean Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act (UCPA) also regulates the act of producing and selling fake consumer goods or inauthentic items such as knock-off, replica.

Foreign business owners or companies often find themselves in difficult situations when they unexpectedly face criminal charges in Korea; if their exports and imports manufactured or distributed in Korea, find to be counterfeited or faked, then they eventually evade several lawful restrictions under various Korean laws. Besides, any acts of attempts, preparations, conspiracies of counterfeiting or forgery shall be punished by imprisonment with labor for up to three years or by a fine up to 20 million KRW.

Law Win has been successfully utilizing compelling and valid legal defenses to establish the innocence of our clients who were charged with these violations.

The Republic of Korea has recently amended policies under the measures to strengthen the protection of trade secrets. Some of the principal amendments to the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act (UCPA) are as follows:

1) The amended Act grants the Special Judicial Police (SJP) and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) the authority to conduct criminal investigations and raids in connection with trade secret theft, misappropriation, and infringement of certain intellectual property rights. The provisions for criminal punishments have been enhanced as well.

2) The elements that must be in place for the violations to the Act to occur have been eased. Now the new provisions of the UCPA encompass a much wider scope of interpretations of the Act and allow the imposition of even more diverse criminal liabilities.

Since Search and Seizure carried out by the SJP or Korean law enforcement are often conducted in trade secret and IP infringement cases, the assistance of a criminal defense attorney is crucial to assess the risks of possible violations of the Act.

Sentencing for sexual crimes in South Korea has continually been enhanced. Rape, sexual assault, child sexual abuse offenses, aggravated sexual abuse, sexual offenses against people with disabilities and workplace sexual harassment are some of the felony sexual offenses under Korean law. Foreigners are often charged with relatively unfamiliar types of sexual crimes, such as ‘Taking Photographs by Using Cameras’(Art 14. of Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes) and ‘Obscene Acts by Using Means of Communication’(Art 13. of the aforementioned Act).

Since most sexual offense cases lack corroborating evidence, the results of the cases heavily depend upon the victims' statements. It is important to note that seeking proper legal assistance in the very early stage of the criminal proceedings is essential in order to avoid any unlawful searches and seizures and polygraph tests.

Under the Korean Criminal Act and the Punishment of Violence, etc. Act, ‘any person who commits an act of violence, etc. collectively or habitually, or who commits an act of violence, etc. by carrying a deadly weapon or other dangerous articles’ is punished by the aggravated felony provisions.

For example, the assaults involving possession and/or use of weapons and other dangerous objects, and assaults committed by two or more persons jointly are the some of the specific violent crimes (‘Special Assault’) discerned from simple assault and battery.

In the case of Special Assault in South Korea, it often occurs that the position of victim and the perpetrator may be reversed by their statements alone, so organizing and specifying facts of the case with legal professionals in an early stage of the criminal process are indispensable.

The Republic of Korea is no longer a drug-free country. Drug-related crimes are on the rise across the nation, and drug regulations in South Korea have gotten stricter over the years. Most foreigners accused of drug law violations are arrested in the pre-trial stage. They often miss their chance to properly exercise their defense rights, which results in the loss of their right to consult and have an attorney present in the process. Moreover, foreign drug suspects are often convicted of imprisonment and sentenced to jail without opportunities to examine their offenses with attorneys due to language restrictions.

Law Win’s Criminal Defense Team comprised of legal professionals who are fluent in English, Chinese, Japanese, German, Russian, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Urdu, and Bengali have handled various drug crimes and brought in many cases alternative results to incarceration.

Non-Koreans often face challenges when driving in Korea. Road signs written in Korean language, confusing highway exits, aggressive driving habits of taxi and bus drivers, limited parking spaces are some of the factors for foreigners’ unintentional traffic law violations in Korea, and contrariwise, they become victims of the traffic offenses.

It is suggested for foreign drivers to be well-informed about Korean traffic laws such as Road Traffic Act, Act on Special Cases Concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents, and the article 5-3 (‘Aggravated Punishment for Driver of Hit-and-Run Vehicle’) of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, and in cases of traffic accidents, consulting with attorneys is a must since the aforementioned laws regard traffic offenses as severe criminal acts.

In Korea, administrative law violations are closely associated with criminal charges. When one violates regulatory rules in matters related to the Business Law, Immigration Law, Environment Law, Labor Law, and other various administrative authorization and permission procedures act on the use of land and real estate, he/she may be subject to criminal trial even though it is a violation of administrative regulations.

Law Win’s Risk Management and Regulation Team has represented many foreign-owned companies and corporations. As an expert criminal law firm, Law Win has developed a keen eye for identifying, analyzing, evaluating risks. And ultimately, we are skilled at providing efficient solution-based legal advice focused on preventing business problems during these administrative proceedings in Korea.