Samsung Boss Found Not Guilty Of Fraud After A Decade Of Litigation

Jay Y. Lee, Samsung Electronics boss since 2022, has had a huge weight lifted from his shoulders after being found not guilty by the Seoul High Court. The executive had been facing charges related to accounting fraud and stock manipulation for years.

Seoul High Court finds Samsung boss not guilty on fraud and manipulation charges

The controversy surrounding the Samsung chairman began with the merger of Chiel Industries and Samsung C&T in 2015. This operation—valued at around $8 billion—gave him a high level of control in the structure of Samsung Electronics and a leading role in the organizational chart of Samsung Group.

However, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office of South Korea accused Jay Y. Lee of resorting to illegal methods to achieve the merger. The prosecution alleged that the executive bribed Choi Soon-sil, a close friend of South Korean President Park Geun-hye, to pressure government agencies to allow the merger without much fuss. This operation resulted in losses for shareholders while Jay Y. Lee gained power, prosecutors said.

A lower court had already declared Samsung’s boss not guilty of all the charges of which he was accused. The judges determined that the prosecution was unable to conclusively prove that Samsung or Lee deceived shareholders. Now it is the highest court in South Korea that supports this ruling. This could represent the end of a decade of litigation for Samsung’s current chairman. It will probably also give investors more peace of mind. Now, Jay Y. Lee can focus solely on his work.

“It took a long time. We hope with the latest ruling, the defendants would be able to focus on their work,” Lee’s lawyer Kim You-jin stated regarding the ruling.

The decision can be appealed, but a new ruling is unlikely

Prosecutors can still challenge the decision on the Jay Y. Lee case. However, legal experts see it as unlikely that they will achieve any kind of change in the ruling. The final word came directly from the Seoul High Court, which will no longer accept new arguments.

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