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Open Decision Ledger · Capital markets & finance

Attribution of Profits from Accounts in the Names of Others Used for Market Manipulation and the Discretion to Impose a Fine in Addition

Translated from the Korean original. Read the Korean

Supreme Court, Feb. 24, 2011, 2010Do7404 (judgment)

Case name: 증권거래법위반

Official text on the National Law Information Center

  1. Question

    Where market manipulation is committed through securities accounts in the names of others, may the profits arising in those accounts be regarded as profits the defendant obtained from the violation, and may the court impose a fine in addition regardless of the prosecution's sentencing demand?

  2. Holding

    Profits obtained from the violation mean profits obtained by the actor; accordingly, profits from an account containing only the funds of the person in whose name the account is held are not attributed to the defendant, and where an account contains commingled funds, the attributed portion cannot be identified and cannot be recognized as the defendant's profits. Where the statutory penalty contains a provision for imposing a fine in addition, the court may, in its discretion and regardless of the provision applied or the sentencing demand, determine whether to impose a fine in addition.

    Summary of the holding, verbatim

    제207조의2 제1항 단서, 제2항 및 제214조 제2항에서 정한 ‘위반행위로 얻은 이익'이란 당해 위반행위로 행위자가 얻은 이익을 의미한다.

    Unofficial English translation

    'The benefits gained from the violating act' as provided in the proviso to Article 207-2, paragraph (1), Article 207-2, paragraph (2), and Article 214, paragraph (2) means the benefits gained by the actor from the violating act.
  3. Disposition

    Dismissed Stated in the decision

    상고를 모두 기각한다.

    Unofficial English translation

    All appeals are dismissed.
  4. Form of the test

    Existing test applied Stated in the decision

    무죄로 인정한 원심판단을 수긍한 사례

    Unofficial English translation

    a case affirming the court below's determination finding the defendant not guilty
  5. Factors

    • 당해 위반행위로 행위자가 얻은 이익을 의미한다
    • 명의인들의 자금만이 입금된 타인 명의의 증권계좌를 이용하여
    • 이를 통해 얻은 거래 이익은 위 명의인들에게 귀속된 것으로 보일 뿐 피고인에게 귀속되었다고 볼 수 없고
    • 위 계좌에서 발생한 이익 중 피고인에게 귀속되는 부분을 특정할 수 없다는 이유로
    • 공소장에 기재된 적용법조나 검사의 구형과 관계없이

    Unofficial English translation

    • means the benefits gained by the actor from the violating act

    • using securities accounts in the names of others into which only the funds of the named persons were deposited

    • the transactional benefits gained thereby can merely be regarded as attributable to the named persons and cannot be regarded as attributable to the defendant

    • on the ground that the portion of the profits generated in the said accounts attributable to the defendant cannot be identified

    • regardless of the statutory provision set forth in the indictment or the sentence demanded by the prosecutor

  6. Relation to precedent

    Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision

    대법원 2007. 11. 15. 선고 2007도6336 판결

    Unofficial English translation

    Supreme Court Decision 2007Do6336 decided November 15, 2007

    Decisions referred to

    [1] 대법원 1978. 10. 10. 선고 78도1890 판결(공1979, 11491), 대법원 1984. 4. 24. 선고 83도1789 판결(공1984, 945), 대법원 2000. 12. 22. 선고 2000도4267 판결, 대법원 2010. 4. 29. 선고 2009도14993 판결 / [2] 대법원 2006. 5. 12. 선고 2004도491 판결, 대법원 2007. 11. 15. 선고 2007도6336 판결

  7. Burden of proof

    Not addressed Not in the decision

  8. Open question and revisit condition

    By what method—such as pro rata allocation according to the ratio of funds—in an account where the defendant's funds and the funds of the person in whose name the account is held are commingled, may the profits attributable to the defendant be identified so that they may be recognized as profits obtained from the violation?

    We will re-examine this reading if the profit calculation provisions of Articles 443 and 447 of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act are amended, or if a new Supreme Court determination is rendered on the attribution of profits from commingled accounts.

Cross-family AI independent reading & axis check

8 of 8 axes matched GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, codex CLI) · 2026-10-16

In comparison with an independent reading by another line of AI (GPT-6 Astra), which read only the original text without seeing the first reading, all eight axes matched.

Raw responses and comparison record: Protocol · Blind readings (JSONL) · Axis comparison (JSONL) · SHA-256 (JSON)

Lower-court contrast & scope of application

Lower-court reading vs. Supreme Court holding

Lower-court context: The court below (Seoul High Court Decision 2009No2111 decided May 28, 2010) applied the provision for imposing a fine in addition under former Article 214 of the Securities and Exchange Act and imposed a fine in addition, and, while it recognized the fact that the defendant used accounts in the names of Non-indicted 1 and 11 others, it regarded the trading profits as attributed to the persons in whose names the accounts were held. As to the accounts in the names of Non-indicted 12 and Non-indicted 13, the defendant's funds and the funds of the persons in whose names the accounts were held were commingled and operated without distinction; and on the ground, among others, that the prosecution did not answer the demand for explanation concerning the amount of the commingled funds and the amount of the gains, the court below found that the profits attributable to the defendant could not be identified, and held the portion of profits of 1,039,553,036 won and the portion of 3,847,408,657 won not guilty.

Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court, holding that the imposition of a fine in addition does not violate the principle of no adjudication without accusation, rejected the defendant's final appeal, and, in light of the existing legal principle that profits obtained from the violation mean profits obtained by the actor, accepted the court below's findings of fact and its holding of not guilty as proper, and also dismissed the prosecution's final appeal.

Distinguishing conditions

  • A case where the persons in whose names the accounts are held participated in the market manipulation as accomplices, so that the profits must be calculated as the profits acquired by the accomplices as a whole
  • A case where, even with a commingled account, the amount of the defendant's funds and the profits attributable thereto can be identified from records such as deposits and withdrawals
  • A case where the person in whose name the account is held is a mere lender of a name, and the account funds and profits are substantially attributed to the defendant

Record verification notes

Before asserting the same conclusion, one must first check whether the person in whose name the account is held is an accomplice who participated in the offense, and whether the source of the account's funds and the actual attribution of the profits can be identified from the Records.

From the official text

Points at issue

[1] 법정형에 징역형과 벌금형을 병과할 수 있도록 규정되어 있는 경우, 법원이 재량으로 벌금형의 병과 여부를 정할 수 있는지 여부(적극) [2] 구 증권거래법 제207조의2 제1항 단서, 제2항 및 제214조 제2항에서 정한 ‘위반행위로 얻은 이익’의 의미 [3] 피고인이, 명의인들만의 자금 또는 피고인과 명의인들의 자금이 혼재되어 있는 타인 명의의 증권계좌를 이용하여 주식 시세조종 등의 행위를 한 사안에서, 피고인에 대한 일부 구 증권거래법 위반의 공소사실을 무죄로 인정한 원심판단을 수긍한 사례

Unofficial English translation

[1] Whether, where the statutory penalties provide for imprisonment and a fine to be imposed concurrently, the court may determine at its discretion whether to impose a fine concurrently (affirmative) [2] Meaning of 'the benefits gained from the violating act' as provided in the proviso to Article 207-2, paragraph (1), Article 207-2, paragraph (2), and Article 214, paragraph (2) of the former Securities and Exchange Act [3] A case affirming the court below's determination finding the defendant not guilty of some of the facts charged as violations of the former Securities and Exchange Act, in a case where the defendant committed acts of stock market price manipulation or the like using securities accounts in the names of others in which only the funds of the named persons were deposited, or in which the funds of the defendant and the funds of the named persons were commingled

Summary of the holding

[1] 법정형에 징역형과 벌금형을 병과할 수 있도록 규정되어 있는 경우, 법원은 공소장에 기재된 적용법조나 검사의 구형과 관계없이 심리·확정한 사실에 대하여 재량으로 벌금형의 병과 여부를 정할 수 있다. [2] 구 증권거래법(2007. 8. 3. 법률 제8635호 자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률 부칙 제2조로 폐지) 제207조의2 제1항 단서, 제2항 및 제214조 제2항에서 정한 ‘위반행위로 얻은 이익'이란 당해 위반행위로 행위자가 얻은 이익을 의미한다. [3] 피고인이 명의인들의 자금만이 입금된 타인 명의의 증권계좌를 이용하여 주식 시세조종 등의 행위를 한 경우 제반 사정에 비추어 이를 통해 얻은 거래 이익은 위 명의인들에게 귀속된 것으로 보일 뿐 피고인에게 귀속되었다고 볼 수 없고, 피고인과 명의인들의 자금이 혼재되어 있는 타인 명의의 증권계좌를 이용하여 주식 시세조종 등의 행위를 한 경우 위 계좌에서 발생한 이익 중 피고인에게 귀속되는 부분을 특정할 수 없다는 이유로, 피고인에 대한 일부 구 증권거래법(2007. 8. 3. 법률 제8635호 자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률 부칙 제2조로 폐지) 위반의 공소사실을 무죄로 인정한 원심판단을 수긍한 사례.

Order

상고를 모두 기각한다.

Unofficial English translation

All appeals are dismissed.

Provisions referred to

[1] 형사소송법 제254조 제3항 제4호, 제302조 [2] 구 증권거래법(2007. 8. 3. 법률 제8635호 자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률 부칙 제2조로 폐지) 제188조의4(현행 자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률 제176조 참조), 제207조의2 제1항 단서, 제2항(현행 자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률 제443조 제1항, 제2항 참조), 제214조 제2항(현행 자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률 제447조 제2항 참조) [3] 구 증권거래법(2007. 8. 3. 법률 제8635호 자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률 부칙 제2조로 폐지) 제188조의4 제1항 제3호, 제2항 제1호(현행 자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률 제176조 제1항 제3호, 제2항 제1호 참조), 제207조의2 제1항 제2호, 제2항(현행 자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률 제443조 제1항 제4호, 제5호, 제2항 참조), 제214조 제2항(현행 자본시장과 금융투자업에 관한 법률 제447조 제2항 참조)

Read 2026-10-16 · Cross-read 2026-10-16. All quotes matched against the official text. The Chinese-character placeholders the court used for anonymised parties are given in their Korean readings, and parenthetical Chinese-character glosses are omitted.

Every entry is published only after all quotes have been matched character by character against the official text, and audited by an independent second reading from a different model family across all eight axes. Both agreed axes and text-grounded interpretive divergences are recorded openly. The ledger is a research record, not an assessment of the court or advice on any matter.

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