Gambling site suspects turned illegal proceeds into fast cars, fine art and fat stacks of cash

Nine people have been indicted on charges related to the operation of an illegal online gambling website and money laundering through purchases of luxury cars, land, and art, prosecutors announced Monday.

Luxury vehicles allegedly bought with proceeds from an illegal gambling website are lined up in an underground parking garage after being confiscated by prosecutors in Busan on Monday. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

Nine people have been indicted on charges related to the operation of an illegal online gambling website and money laundering through purchases of luxury cars, land, and art, prosecutors announced Monday.

According to the Busan District Prosecutors’ Office, four people have been arrested on suspicion of laundering the proceeds from the website via purchases of luxury vehicles, shipping, real estate and art.

The other five suspects, some of whom are family members of the arrested suspects, have been charged without detention on charges of aiding and abetting the criminal activities by allowing the four main suspects to use their bank accounts and their names for land purchases.

According to prosecutors, the group operated their gambling website from a server based in the Philippines from July 2018 to August 2022, earning over 55 billion won ($41.1 million) from users.

Prosecutors believe that one of the suspects, a 42-year-old man whose identity they have not yet disclosed, used 8.3 billion won to import and sell cars from high-end brands such as Ferrari and Lamborghini.

The suspect also spent 14 billion won to buy a tire company, and 16.4 billion won to develop a plot in Sinsa-dong, an upscale neighborhood in Seoul’s Gangnam District, according to prosecutors.

Art by Takashi Murakami and others that was allegedly bought with proceeds from an illegal gambling website are seen after being confiscated by prosecutors in Busan on Monday. [NEWS1]

A former art major, the suspect also used money raised from the gambling website to buy 47 pieces of art, including works by Pablo Picasso, Takashi Murakami, Nam June Paik and Lee Ufan, the total value of which prosecutors estimated to be around 4.7 billion won based on the prices at which he resold the art to galleries.

Prosecutors said the suspect at one point had over 50 billion won in cash at hand, based on photos he took of bundles of 50,000 won notes.

A pile of 50,000-won cash bundles accumulated by the main suspect behind the operation of an illegal gambling website [BUSAN DISTRICT PROSECUTORS' OFFICE]

Prosecutors also believe that the suspect’s 31-year-old wife and 60-year-old mother-in-law aided him in laundering the proceeds from his gambling website by buying and reselling apartments worth between 900 million won and 2.7 billion won in Busan’s Haeundae District, then disbursing the money they made from the sales into different bank accounts under their names to obscure the origin of the funds.

Prosecutors said that they have thus far managed to confiscate or freeze at least 53.5 billion won in property or funds amassed by the gang that had been distributed to their trusted acquaintances or otherwise laundered.

However, they are still searching for a 35-year-old suspect who is believed to have directly managed the gambling website’s day-to-day operations until 2019, when he is believed to have fled to the Philippines.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]