Supreme Court rejects appeal by couple in McDonald's extortion case

Taipei, Jan. 8 (CNA) The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied an appeal brought by a married couple convicted of corruption for their failed attempt to extort fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's in 2017.

The couple, a man surnamed Tsai (蔡) and his wife surnamed Huang (黃), was found guilty of attempted extortion under the Criminal Code for seeking NT$70.6 million (US$2.15 million) in compensation after their son broke his arm at a McDonald's restaurant in New Taipei's Tucheng District, in a ruling by the Taoyuan District Court in February 2021.

After they were both sentenced to one year and two months in prison, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office, which had indicted the couple on corruption charges, appealed the district court's ruling.

The Taiwan High Court convicted them in July 2023 for violating the Anti-Corruption Act because the couple was found to have abused their positions when working at the New Taipei City Fire Department in their extortion attempt.

Tsai and Huang were sentenced to 6.5 years, and five years and two months in prison, respectively, according to the High Court's judgement.

The Supreme Court ruling made on Wednesday is final.

According to court documents, the couple tried to extort the large sum of money in order to cover investment losses they had incurred, despite the medical bills for their son only totaling NT$6,703.

The couple's attempt to extort McDonald's came to light in the summer of 2017 after the fast-food chain reported to the Criminal Investigation Bureau the threats made by the couple in their talks on compensation.

The couple compiled information of McDonald's restaurants in Taiwan from a government database for various issues and threatened the chain that they would make the information public, court documents showed.

Several McDonald's restaurants around Taiwan were then notified by local governments about upcoming inspections, leading to the chain's decision to contact the authorities.

The couple was questioned by the prosecutors in July 2017 and indicted in September of that year.