According to reports, in order to open a local restaurant, CEO Lee borrowed 100 million won from Mr. Cho, the head of a shiitake mushroom association, and wrote an IOU with an expiration date of April 2011. However, Mr. Cho did not receive the money even after the promised deadline, and Mr. Cho died in July 2011, three months after the due date.
Afterwards, Mr. Cho’s son, Mr. A, learned of this fact when he found an IOU in his wallet while organizing his father’s belongings. However, CEO Lee denied the claim, saying, ‘I never borrowed it,’ and Mr. A’s family filed a civil suit that year. The court ruled in 2012 that he had to repay 100 million won, but CEO Lee did not repay the debt, saying, “I don’t have the money.” In the end, Mr. A’s side provisionally seized the land owned by CEO Lee and received 19 million won through an auction.
Representative Lee, who did not pay back the remaining amount, later participated in the entertainment program ‘Korean Food Battle’ in 2014, won, and received a prize money of 100 million won. Nevertheless, the money was still not repaid, and Mr. Cho’s surviving family applied to the court for a bond seizure and collection order in 2018, and the court accepted it, but they continued to not receive the remaining money.
Mr. A’s side claimed in an interview with the media, “The amount that CEO Lee owes to our family currently exceeds 300 million won, including interest.” In relation to this, Representative Lee said, “There are differences in our positions. It is true that we borrowed money, but we have partially repaid it.”
Please note that it is difficult to be legally punished if you partially repay the borrowed money.