The late Yoo Byung Un was a religious leader and businessman who founded the Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea and is also considered the de facto owner of several companies including the Chonghaejin Marine Company, which operated the Sewol Ferry. Ever since April 16, the day when the Sewol Ferry sunk, Yoo Byung Un was on the run from the police. He was eventually found dead in July.
The Yoo family has been accused by authorities for embezzling nearly $169 million USD from several companies they control, including the Chonghaejin Marine Company as well as Yoo Byung Un's church. Authorities believe that because the family stole millions from the Chonghaejin Marine Company's funds, the company was unable to provide the proper safety measures which could have prevented the Sewol Ferry incident from happening. According to prosecutors, the company had to overload its ships in order to make up for losses caused by the embezzlement. The Sewol Ferry was carrying cargo double the ship's capacity on the day it had sunk.
On November 5, Yoo Dae Gyun was found guilty of taking nearly $6.8 million dollars since 2002 from seven companies. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
Other family members convicted for embezzlement include Yoo Dae Gyun's uncles and Yoo Byung Un's brothers, Yoo Byung Il and Yoo Byung Ho. While the former was convicted of taking $119,000 USD from Chonghaejin Marine Company and received a suspended sentence, the latter was convicted of taking $2.7 million USD from another company and sentenced to 2 years in prison. In addition, 13 executives from the family-owned companies were convicted for aiding in the embezzlement, with four sentenced to prison terms of two to four years.
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