Supreme Court upholds 42-year prison term for mastermind of sex abuse ring

This 2020 September file photo shows Cho Ju-bin, the founder of Baksabang, an illicit Telegram chat room. Yonhap

The Supreme Court on Thursday approved a 42-year prison sentence for Cho Ju-bin, the mastermind of a notorious online sex blackmail ring.

The top court also confirmed lower courts' order that Cho has to wear an electronic bracelet for 30 years, pay a forfeiture of 100 million won ($90,000), be banned from working at children-related facilities for 10 years after his release and his personal details be made public for 10 years.

Cho was indicted in April last year for organizing a criminal ring together with 38 accomplices, blackmailing 74 minor and adult victims into filming pornographic content, and distributing the sex abuse materials to members of a pay-to-view Telegram chat room, called Baksabang. The 25-year-old man was also charged with hiding about 108 million won in criminal proceeds.

Cho committed his online sexual offenses from March 2019 to February 2020 before being arrested by police on March 16 last year. A district court sentenced him to 45 years behind bars but an appellate court lowered his prison sentence to 42 years. (Yonhap)

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