Article: Fantagio staff member's girl group advertising fee fraud....sentenced to 10 months in prison
Source: Newsis
A former Fantagio staff member has been sentenced to prison for fraud.
Judge Kim Sang-Kyo of the Seoul Central District Court sentenced 'A', a 40 yr old former Fantagio employee to 10 months in prison for fraud and other charges. His friend, 'B', also 40, was sentenced to 6 months in prison with a 2 yr suspension.
A was on trial from December 2016 to February 2018 on charges of misappropriating a total of 105 million won, a 20% commission fee on each contract, by using his friend B's agency, while overseeing the endorsement activities of Fantagio's agency artists.
Investigations found that B was not actually involved in the endorsement process but for aiding in the scheme B pocketed 8.6 million won and A took 96.7 million won. The defrauded contracts were for endorsement deals involving Fantagio girl groups Weki Meki and Hello Venus.
Judge Kim explained his reasoning for sentencing stating, "In total, A&B defrauded a total of 100 million won from the victims. In particular, the person that facilitated the crime violated his duties and pocketed a majority of the funds. As such, severe punishment is inevitable. However A appears to be reflecting on his crime and has no prior record of criminal activity."
"In the case of B, he appears to have been a passive participant in the crime at the suggestion of A and his share of benefits from the crime wasn't significant."
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This is so sad considering how much both of those groups have been through. Considering how much Weki Meki is currently struggling in the market, to have someone steal from what they can manage to achieve is really disgusting. I sincerely hope they'll be able to recover whatever was stolen, they already went through so much with their company and now this? Geez....
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