The appellate trial for A, the elder brother of broadcaster Park Soo-hong, and his sister-in-law, who were indicted on charges of embezzling Park's grants and company funds, has begun. During the appellate trial, the court required detailed explanations regarding both parties' asset formation processes and heard opinions from both sides.

On the 13th, the 7th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court conducted the sixth public court session for A, the elder brother of Park Soo-hong, and his sister-in-law, B, who were indicted for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (embezzlement).

Park Soo-hong's attorney and the defense teams for A and B attended the session. The court noted, "It's difficult to entrust an evaluation to a professional psychological examiner, and while we cannot use this aspect as evidence, we will come to a conclusion based on the results of both parties' submitted opinions. Please clarify matters related to Park Soo-hong's personal account management, which was related to the not guilty verdict in the first trial."

In particular, the court said regarding A and B, "If we look at the asset formation results of Park Soo-hong and A, Park Soo-hong shows no substantial increase in real estate acquisitions or financial assets beyond a 50% equity stake in Magok Shopping Mall. Please clarify if there are any increases. Meanwhile, A and his spouse have acquired four properties, repaid debts from existing properties, and appear to have increased financial assets by taking out various insurances. I'd appreciate a detailed analysis of the differences in both parties' asset statuses."

The court also requested, "It's necessary to explain the reasons for the apparent differences in asset formation. It seems that almost all income sources came from Park Soo-hong's entertainment activities. Please clarify why asset formation is different based on this revenue."

The court stated, "Please provide your opinion on whether A’s management of the portion of Park Soo-hong's personal account, which received a not guilty verdict in the first trial, was deemed a legitimate management purpose."

A and his spouse were indicted for embezzling a total of over 6.2 billion won from the entertainment agencies Rael and Media Boom, where they operated from 2011 to 2021, including Park Soo-hong's grants and company funds. In the first trial, A was found guilty of embezzling about 2 billion won of the company's funds and was sentenced to two years in prison. However, the court ruled not guilty regarding the embezzlement of about 1.6 billion won in personal assets and B due to lack of evidence.

In response, both the prosecution and the defendants filed appeals, and Park Soo-hong noted at the appellate trial hearing last July, "I felt wronged seeing assets being misappropriated arbitrarily because we are family. Most of the real estate was under the names of my elder brother and his spouse, and nothing was under my name. It is too large an increase in assets to assume they only gathered salaries and dividends."

Meanwhile, A and his spouse's seventh appellate public court session will be held in August.

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