Appeals court raises Optimus CEO's jail term to 40 years over massive investment scam

Optimus Asset Management's office in southern Seoul in October 2020 Korea Times file

A Seoul appellate court on Friday hiked up the prison sentence to 40 years for the CEO of private equity investment firm Optimus Asset Management, accused of fraud in one of the country's largest investment scams.

Kim Jae-hyun, the head of Optimus, was sentenced to 25 years by a lower court last July.

He allegedly raised more than 1.3 trillion won ($1.08 billion) from thousands of private and institutional investors between April 2018 and June 2020, promising the money will be invested in low-risk assets involving public institutions.

However, the money was invested in risky assets or used to refund investors, and he eventually failed to redeem much of the invested money to clients.

The Seoul High Court also ordered a forfeiture of 75.2 billion won, along with a fine of 500 million won in the ruling, the same as the lower court's verdict. (Yonhap)