Warrant issued for ex-chief of Samsung for market manipulation and fraud

South Korean authorities have issued another warrant for the arrest of the "Crown Prince of Samsung," Lee Jae-yong, just two years after his bribery charges were pardoned.

Lee Jae-yong — often referred to as Jay Y. Lee in English speaking countries — has found himself in hot water once again. The de facto head of Samsung has been accused of manipulating markets and accounting fraud.

According to BusinessKorea, prosecuters have been investigating suspicions surrounding the merger of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries.

The arrest warrant was issued on June 4 and serves Lee, as well as two former Samsung executives — Choi Ji-sung, former head of the group's Future Strategy Office, and Kim Jong-joong, former head of the U.S. strategy team.

The trio was charged with committing illegal transactions, market manipulation in violation of the Capital Markets act, and accounting fraud in breach of the Act on External Audit of Stock Companies.

Lee had asked the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office to allow for independently contracted experts, not prosecutors, to determine whether or not his indictment is valid. The Prosecutors' Office plans on convening a citizen prosecutorial committee to decide whether it is appropriate for experts or prosecutors to determine Lee's indictment.

In 2017, he was given a five year sentence for his role after a six-month trial, convicted for bribery and other charges relating to a national scandal that saw the downfall of former Korean President Park Geun-hye.

He was released early from prison in 2018, in time for Samsung to sponsor the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games.

In 2018, his father, Lee Kun-hee, was identified by police as a suspect in a tax evasion case, after authorities discovered evidence that 8.2 billion won ($7.5 million) in taxes had been avoided by concealing them in fraudulently opened accounts.

11 Comments

anantksundaram 20390 comments · 18 Years

About 4 years ago

Yet another one?!

Yikes, they seem to have an endless supply.

JWSC 1203 comments · 7 Years

It takes balls for the Korean prosecutors to go after this family. They are protected by many in high places and going after them could be, at a minimum, career limiting and, potentially, much much worse. The power of the chaebol cannot be overstated.

hammeroftruth 1354 comments · 16 Years

JWSC said:

It takes balls for the Korean prosecutors to go after this family. They are protected by many in high places and going after them could be, at a minimum, career limiting and, potentially, much much worse. The power of the chaebol cannot be overstated.

I think the bribes stopped coming, so now they actually have to do their job.

I remember when Apple and Samsung were aggressively suing each other and Samsung had a good PR smear against Apple to get many journalists to side with Samsung. At the time I read an article where a journalist showed how Samsung ripped off Dyson’s design for a vacuum. It look almost identical to Dyson’s product and Samsung explained it wasn’t similar and it was just coincidental that the product looked almost exactly like Dyson’s.

SpamSandwich 32917 comments · 19 Years

Sometimes there just aren’t enough bribes.

gilly33 444 comments · 10 Years

hammeroftruth said:

JWSC said:

It takes balls for the Korean prosecutors to go after this family. They are protected by many in high places and going after them could be, at a minimum, career limiting and, potentially, much much worse. The power of the chaebol cannot be overstated.

I think the bribes stopped coming, so now they actually have to do their job.
I remember when Apple and Samsung were aggressively suing each other and Samsung had a good PR smear against Apple to get many journalists to side with Samsung. At the time I read an article where a journalist showed how Samsung ripped off Dyson’s design for a vacuum. It look almost identical to Dyson’s product and Samsung explained it wasn’t similar and it was just coincidental that the product looked almost exactly like Dyson’s.

Samsung has no shame.