Kim Woo-choong, the founder and former head of the Daewoo Group, was sentenced to 10 years in a South Korean prison for embezzlement, accounting fraud, and various other white-collar crimes of the type typically committed when a large company goes down the tubes. In all, Woo-choong was said to have been involved in a variety fraudulent transactions involving over $50B in company funds, as well as having embezzled $100M.

In addition to the jail time (effectively a life sentence for a 69-year-old man), Woo-choong was forced to forfeit a whopping $22B and to pay a somewhat less substantial fine of $10,600 (no word yet on whether that fine has to be paid before or after he hands over the money in his bank account).

The portion of Daewoo currently owned by General Motors (now called Daewoo Motors) was acquired in 2002, after a break-up of the bankrupt Daewoo Group.

[Source: AP via Yahoo!]

Daewoo's ex-chief receives jail sentence originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 30 May 2006 18:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.