Court recognizes only 132.4 billion won out of total 789.8 billion won in unfair profit charges
Mr. Gong, the actual owner of Youngpoong Paper, is also scheduled to be sentenced on this day.
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Chae-rin = The head of the Youngpoong Paper stock price manipulation ring was sentenced to one year in prison in the first trial. (โป Correction of error in article text: 15 years in prison)
On the 30th, the Seoul Southern District Court's Criminal Agreement Division 12 (Chief Judge Jong-yeol Park) sentenced Jin-hoon Lee, who was sent to trial on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act, to 15 years in prison and a fine of 397.3 billion won. A fine of 132.4 billion won was also ordered.
The court pointed out that โ(Mr. Lee) planned and led the overall market manipulation process, recruiting personnel and assigning roles as needed,โ and added, โIt is his key role to manage and supervise accounts and funds.โ
He continued, "It can be seen that all accounts and profits obtained by (the defendants) through their violations are under Mr. Lee's own management. Accordingly, the fines are not collected separately for each defendant, but are collected from Mr. Lee, who is in charge of management."
However, the court added that in sentencing, it took into account the fact that Mr. Lee was sentenced to one year in prison by the Supreme Court on the 23rd on charges of helping former Vice Chairman Lee Ki-hoon, a key figure in the Sambu Construction stock price manipulation suspicion, escape (hiding a criminal).
The sentencing of four people, including Gong Hyeon-cheol, the actual owner of Youngpoong Paper, who were also brought to trial, will continue at 4 PM on this day. Considering that there were 24 defendants in this case, the court decided to proceed with separate sentencing.
Mr. Gong is known to be the actual owner of Daeyang Metal, which acquired Youngpoong Paper in 2022.
About 20 members of the group, including Mr. Lee and Mr. Gong, were put on trial on charges of making unfair profits worth a total of 789.8 billion won by inflating the stock price of Youngpoong Paper through market manipulation orders such as disguise, full-clearance trading, and high-price purchases using 444 securities accounts over a period of about a year from October 2022 to October 2023. This received attention as the largest single stock price manipulation crime ever committed.
However, on this day, the court ruled that evidence obtained by the prosecution through the stock exchange or securities company through the Financial Supervisory Service without a search and seizure warrant after October 4, 2023 was illegally collected and had no evidence.
The court found them guilty of committing the crime of market manipulation from October 25, 2022 to October 17, 2023, but limited the unfair profits to 132.4 billion won by only recognizing transactions made in 113 accounts until August 18, 2023, not the entire period.
Some of the gang were also accused of helping leader Lee escape as the investigation network narrowed.
In October 2023, it was found that various conveniences were provided, such as providing a vehicle and delivering escape funds worth hundreds of millions of won, and mobilizing several cell phones to confuse investigative agencies in their pursuit.
Mr. Lee, who disappeared during the same period, gave 480 million won to a smuggling broker and attempted to flee overseas, but was arrested off Jeju Island in January 2024.
Due to their manipulation of the market price at the time of the crime, Youngpoong Paper's stock price soared about 14 times from 3,484 won on October 25, 2022, based on the revised closing price, to 48,400 won about a year later.
