A local court has ordered Holt Children's Services to pay compensation to a South Korean adoptee who was illegally sent overseas despite having biological parents in the country.

The Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday sided with the plaintiff, 48-year-old Adam Crapser, born Shin Song-hyuk, ordering the agency to pay 100 million won, or 75-thousand U.S. dollars, plus delayed interest.

The court did not, however, acknowledge the government's liability for compensation, dismissing that portion of the lawsuit.

Crapser was sent to the U.S. at the age of three in 1979 but was driven to homelessness by 16 due to abuse by the adoptive parents who later relinquished custody of him. Due to their failure to properly register the adoption, Crapser never received U.S. citizenship.

He was ultimately deported back to South Korea in 2016 after his misdemeanor records came to light during the permanent residency renewal process in the U.S.

He proceeded to file a 200 million won compensation suit against the adoption agency and the state, claiming that Holt forged papers to classify him as an orphan eligible for overseas adoption while his biological parents existed.