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| TITLE | Supreme Court Decision 2020Do9789 Decided December 16, 2021 【Violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (Embezzlement); [Acknowledged Name of Crime: Violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (Breach of Trust)]】 [full Text] |
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| Summary | |
| 【Main Issues and Holdings】 [1] Where virtual assets were transferred into another person’s electronic wallet of virtual assets without any legal cause due to the misunderstanding of a person who has the right to virtual assets, errors of visual asset operating system, etc., whether another person who received such transfer can be seen to be in a position of preserving or managing such virtual assets based on a fiduciary relationship (negative) Whether virtual assets correspond to “pecuniary advantage” (affirmative) and whether virtual assets should be protected in the same way as legal tender by applying the Criminal Act thereto (negative) Where a person who received a transfer of virtual assets, corresponding to pecuniary advantage, for mysterious reasons used and disposed of the virtual assets, whether he/she can be punished for breach of trust on the basis of the principle of trust and good faith (negative) [2] In a case where the Defendant was indicted for preliminary facts charged of the violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust) on the grounds that the Defendant, who received a transfer of bitcoins stored in Party A’s electronic wallet of certain exchange in an unknown way, obtained pecuniary advantage by transferring such bitcoins into his/her another account and inflected pecuniary damage on Party A, the case holding that even if bitcoins were transferred from Party A to an electronic wallet in the name of the Defendant without any legal cause, unless the Defendant can be seen to administer Party A’s business on behalf of Party A based on a fiduciary relationship, the Defendant does not correspond to “a person who administers another’s business” in a relationship with Party A | |
