Guaranteed Admission, Guaranteed Prison: Supreme Court Upholds Sentence for ₩850 Million University Placement Scam

By Juwon Kang, April 25, 2026

South Korea’s Supreme Court has finalized a prison sentence for a fraudster who pocketed ₩850 million by falsely promising to use insider connections to secure a child’s transfer into a prestigious American university. Here are the key points:

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The Scheme

– In May 2018, defendant A approached a consultant named B at a Seoul café, claiming to have personal connections with U.S. university admissions officers that could guarantee a transfer to a top American school.
– A offered a specific deal: pay ₩850 million in total — including ₩200 million to be passed on to the admissions officers — and the transfer would be secured. If it failed, ₩600 million would be returned.
– B relayed the offer to victim C, who paid the full ₩850 million.
– A had no such connections and no ability to deliver on any part of the promise. The transfer never happened and the money was not returned.
– A also faced a separate charge of suborning perjury — inducing a witness in another criminal case to give false testimony.

The Legal Journey

– The trial court convicted A on both the fraud and perjury charges, sentencing him to two years for the fraud and eight months for suborning perjury.
– The appellate court upheld the convictions but reduced the sentences slightly — to one year and six months for fraud and four months for suborning perjury — partially accepting A’s argument that the original sentence was excessive.
– The Supreme Court (Criminal Division 2, presiding Justice Eom Sang-pil) rejected A’s final appeal and confirmed the appellate sentence of one year and ten months in total.

Why This Matters

Education fraud targeting anxious parents willing to pay extraordinary sums for their children’s academic futures is a recurring problem in Korea. This ruling — brought under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes — confirms that courts treat such schemes as serious financial crimes warranting custodial sentences, particularly where the sums involved are large and the deception is deliberate and sustained. For practitioners, it also serves as a reminder that the use of intermediaries to relay fraudulent representations does not insulate the originator from full criminal liability.

Article: https://www.lawtimes.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=218640