Losing at gambling, Korean man stole 100,000 USD from his friend
Borrowing 50,000 USD to gamble but losing it all, Lee Hyun Soo broke into his best friend's apartment, stole 100,000 USD to pay off the debt and continued gambling.
On July 22, Lee Hyun Soo (32 years old), Korean nationality, was sentenced to 14 years in prison by the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City for the crime of "Theft of property";forced to compensate the victim for the entire amount of money embezzled.
In court today, Soo admitted all crimes.
Soo and Mr. Kim (39 years old) have been close friends since they were in Korea. Many years ago, they came to Vietnam to do business together and lived in two apartments in Masteri Thao Dien, Thu Duc City.
Trusting you, at the end of 2023, Mr. Kim and his girlfriend returned to Korea, so they gave Soo the apartment password to look after and the safe password to check the money. After that, when Mr. Kim returned to live in Ho Chi Minh City, he still kept the old password.
On June 13, 2024, Soo went to a casino in a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City to play "Slot Machine" - a service only for foreigners. Losing all his money, he borrowed 50,000 USD from a compatriot woman (identity unknown) to recoup but was "broke". With no money to pay the debt, Soo came up with the idea of stealing Mr. Kim's property.
The next morning, knowing that his best friend was on a business trip to Hanoi, Soo went to her house, opened the safe, took 10 stacks of 100 USD bills (100,000 USD, equivalent to 2.5 billion VND) and brought them back to his apartment. Then, he brought the money to the hotel to pay off the woman's debt and continued gambling.
Soo lost another $23,000, leaving $27,000 to cover travel expenses with his girlfriend. On June 15, Kim discovered the money was missing and reported it to the police.
