Defense in a complex criminal case involving fraud and money lending law violations across many transactions

We defended a defendant indicted on multiple charges, including fraud, violation of the money lending business law, coercion and running a gambling venue, arising from private loans and money lending transactions.

The case involved many counterparties and bank accounts, and at issue were the nature of each money transaction, who actually received the funds, the credibility of the counterparties' statements and the elements of each offense.

Attorney Jaehoon Lee analyzed the evidence and legal issues for each charge and reviewed the direction of the defendant's defense.

On the fraud charges, the key issues were whether there was deception and intent to defraud when the money was received, and whether transactions in which money was actually lent and repaid could be treated as fraud.

On the money lending charges, it was necessary to distinguish the roles of the person who provided the funds and the persons who brokered or managed the loans in order to determine who operated the lending business and the scope of criminal liability.

The individual elements of several other offenses were also at issue, including whether consent had been given to the provision of personal information, the credibility of the victims' statements on the coercion and threat charges, and whether providing a gambling venue and a profit motive could be established.

Attorney Lee sorted the many money transactions by date and by account, and compared the charges, the defendant's statements, the counterparties' statements and the financial records to analyze how each transaction actually occurred.

In particular, he reviewed whether the money was lent and repaid, who ultimately received the funds, and whether the counterparties' statements were consistent and matched the objective financial records, and set out the defense arguments on the fraud charges.

For the money lending charges and other charges, he also reviewed the relevant case law and evidence and developed a defense strategy that separated the parts of the charges that could be contested from those to be addressed mainly through mitigating factors at sentencing.

He also analyzed the trial and investigation records to identify the facts that still needed to be confirmed and the evidence to be obtained.