Two hundred eighty-six individual investors who suffered losses on bonds issued by the Central Group, including JTBC, have formed a joint legal team to pursue **legal action** against the conglomerate and its financial brokers. The group, which includes eight lawyers such as former Financial Supervisory Service Director Lee Bok-hyun, announced that the total value of the defaulted bonds they hold exceeds **30 billion won** (approximately $22 million). Many of the victims were **retirees** or individuals who invested their retirement savings, medical funds, or living expenses in these bonds, believing them to be safe.
The legal team highlighted that one 70-year-old victim used their retirement fund to purchase bonds to help cover their spouse’s **rare cancer treatment**, while a 50-year-old investor claimed a securities firm representative assured them the default probability was **below 1 percent**, only for the company to collapse three months later. The lawyers argue that the issuing company, which had a debt-to-equity ratio exceeding **2,600 percent** and was in a state of **capital erosion**, sold bonds to individuals just five days before filing for **rehabilitation**. They are calling for a strict investigation into **Shinhan Investment Corp**, which led the issuance, and **Kiwoom Securities**, which sold the electronic short-term bonds.
Former FSS Director Lee stated he accepted the case because he views the incident as a **financial fraud** scheme involving "maturity extension and rollover," where large corporations and financial firms profited while **individual investors** bore the losses. The crisis began on June 22 when JTBC declared a **default** after failing to repay 20.6 billion won, leading five Central Group affiliates to file for **rehabilitation proceedings** at the Seoul High Court. The Financial Supervisory Service is currently investigating whether JTBC and the selling firms adequately disclosed the **worsening financial conditions** to investors before the collapse.
As the rehabilitation process unfolds, market analysts warn that losses for bondholders are **inevitable**, with individual investment in Central Group bonds
