Man who distributed 71 bank accounts used to launder 108.1 billion won in gambling proceeds gets sentence reduced

A South Korean appeals court reduced the prison sentence of a man who supplied 71 bank accounts and 10 mobile-phone SIM cards to a money-laundering organization linked to illegal gambling websites.

The Gwangju District Court’s fourth criminal appeals division sentenced the 39-year-old man, identified only as A, to one year and six months in prison. It overturned the original sentence of two years and six months.

A was accused of obtaining 71 so-called mule accounts and passing them to the organization between January 2023 and December 2025. He also handed over 10 SIM cards registered in other people’s names between April 2023 and June 2025.

The accounts were used to transfer more than 108.1 billion won in criminal proceeds from illegal gambling websites into designated accounts. The appeals court said the long period of offending and the large number of accounts and telecommunications services involved made the conduct serious. It nevertheless reduced the sentence after comparing A’s role with those of the money-laundering organization’s leader, who received five years, its team leader, who received three years and six months, and an operations team leader, who received one year and six months.

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The period of the crime was long, and the number of access media and telecommunications services distributed was large, so the culpability is not light.