The heir to tech giant Samsung is dealing with new charges that involve alleged stock and accounting manipulation. Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of the South Korean company, denied the accusations. Lee presides Samsung as his father and chairman of the company, Lee Kun-hee, was incapacitated by a heart attack.
Latest Allegations
Prosecutors from South Korea are accusing 52-year old Lee of committing a breach of trust, among other alleged misdeeds. The prosecutors find the merging of Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, which combined in 2015, as an attempt by Lee to gain control over Samsung Group. Alongside Lee, there are also ten other executives from Samsung who were also indicted.
However, none of the indicted executives, including Lee, were arrested. The Seoul Central District Court did not grant a warrant to take the accused individuals into detention.
The lawyers for Samsung slammed the indictments as “one-sided arguments not based on evidence or legal principles.”
Lee’s Prison History
In 2017, Lee was previously imprisoned after being found guilty of several corruption charges, per CNN. The prosecutors accused Lee of bribing then South Korean president Park Geun-hye to gain governmental support to push through with the particular merger. Lee’s case, involving Park, was also considered the “trial of the century.”
Lee Jae-yong, the heir to Samsung, was indicted on charges of engaging in stock price manipulation, unfair trading and other illegal means to tighten his control over South Korea's biggest conglomerate https://t.co/RHtW17Tivp
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 1, 2020
His sentence was supposedly five years. However, Lee was released after some of the charges against him were thrown out by a court. According to the judge‘s ruling, the bribe amount was only half of what was indicated by the trial court.
Succession Story
Earlier this year, the Samsung heir apologized for scandals involving Samsung, per the New York Times. Lee said the corruption scandals came from Samsung’s “succession issue.”
He also noted that he is the last in the family to lead the large South Korean company. Lee said that he would not be giving Samsung Group to his children.