Orion Group head sentenced to 3-year prison term over slush funds

The chairman of Orion Group was sentenced to three years in prison on Thursday for embezzling a massive amount of corporate funds. Tam Cheol-gon, 56, was detained and indicted in June on charges of misappropriating nearly 30 billion won (US$26.4 million) of funds from the confectionery and media group. Prosecutors have said the son-in-law of late Orion founder Lee Yang-gu secured the slush funds after acquiring expensive artworks at the expense of the firm and gaining the possession of them. The Seoul Central District Court also sentenced Hong Song-won, head of Gallery Seomi, to a suspended two-and-half-year jail term for helping Tam stash the funds by engaging in the artworks purchase and laundering money via the trades. An Orion Group executive named Cho was also sentenced to two and half years behind bars for a role in forming the slush funds.