Samsung CEO faces 5 years in prison

Exactly 10 months ago, Samsung Electronic executive Jay Lee was acquitted of charges of stock price manipulation and accounting fraud in connection with the merger of Samsung subsidiaries. Samsung a merger occurred in 2015 that tightened its control over the tech giant.

Today, South Korean prosecutors in an appeals court demanded a five-year prison sentence and a fine of 500 million won, equivalent to $375,000, for the Samsung executive.

Prosecutors said Monday: “The defendant damaged the capital market foundation for the group’s continuity… The decision in this case will serve as a guide for the restructuring of chaebol companies.” [que es un gran conglomerado empresarial familiar en Corea del Sur]and accounting in the future.

South Korean prosecutors have been pursuing Lee for years. Last November, they asked for Lee to be sentenced to five years in prison and fined 500 million won (the same request they made today) on charges of violating the Capital Market Law related to the 2015 merger of Samsung subsidiaries. They argued that the merger helped Lee gain control of the Korean electronics company.

Lee denied allegations of misconduct during a November 2023 hearing and said the merger process was within the company’s standard operating procedures.

In September 2020, Lee, then a vice president of Samsung Electronics, along with other former Samsung executives were accused of promoting the merger of Cheil Industries, Samsung’s textile subsidiary, with its construction division Samsung C&T to take management control. They were also accused of inflating the share prices of Cheil and Samsung C&T, as well as falsifying accounting records at Samsung Biologics, in which Cheil had a significant stake, in the same case.