On July 22, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court sentenced Lee Hyunsoo (32, South Korean) to 14 years in prison for theft.

According to the indictment, Lee and Kim Manseok (39, South Korean) were friends who had known each other in South Korea and later moved to Vietnam for business. At the end of 2023, Kim and his girlfriend returned to South Korea. Trusting Lee, Kim shared the password to his apartment and safe located in the Masteri Thao Dien apartment complex in Thu Duc City (formerly Thu Duc district), asking him to occasionally check the cash inside.

By early 2024, Kim no longer asked Lee to check the safe, but he did not change the access codes.

On June 13, 2024, Lee visited a casino inside a hotel on Ton Duc Thang Street (District 1, formerly), where he played games for foreigners. After losing money, he borrowed $50,000 from an unidentified South Korean woman to continue gambling - but lost everything.

Unable to repay the debt and desperate to continue gambling, Lee decided to steal money from his friend.

At around 6:30 a.m. on June 14, while Kim and his girlfriend were on a business trip in Hanoi, Lee entered the apartment using the old access code and stole $100,000 from the safe (over VND 2.5 billion at current exchange rates).

He used $50,000 to repay the woman, lost another $23,000 gambling, and spent the remaining $27,000 on a vacation with his girlfriend in Vung Tau.

On June 15, Kim returned home and discovered the theft, immediately reporting it to the police. The following day, Lee was summoned by the Thu Duc City police. Confronted with the evidence, he admitted to the crime.

At trial, Lee confessed and accepted the charges. The court ruled that his actions constituted a serious violation of property rights protected by law and caused social disorder. After careful consideration, the panel sentenced him to 14 years in prison.

Thanh Phuong