Samsung CEO Lee Jae-yong avoided another prison sentence on Monday after being found not guilty of financial crimes related to the controversial merger of two of the company’s affiliates.
According to reports, the Seoul Central District Court ruled that prosecutors were unable to sufficiently prove that the 2015 merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries was completed illegally to strengthen Lee’s position at Samsung at the expense of shareholders. The court ruled in favor of Mr. Lee. CNN Business.
Mr. Lee was charged with stock price manipulation and accounting fraud, but his lawyers denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the merger made the company more stable.
According to CNN, in response to the shocking ruling, Chief Justice Park Jeong-jae said, “Even if Mr. Lee’s control is strengthened, as long as the merger has a rational purpose, the merger in this case is not unfair.” No,” he said.
It is unclear whether prosecutors will appeal the ruling.
South Korean prosecutors initially filed a lawsuit against Mr. Lee, 55, also known as Jay Y. Lee, who was able to become Samsung’s top executive despite being a twice-convicted felon. , had been sentenced to five years in prison.
In 2017, Lee was found guilty of bribing former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her confidants with approximately $6.4 million to secure government support for the 2015 merger of C&T and Daiichi Steel. received the verdict.
Lee was sentenced to five years in prison at the time, but the appeals court suspended his sentence and he was released after just 11 months.
The scandal sparked mass protests in South Korea and led to the ouster of Park, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for bribery.
Meanwhile, Lee vowed to improve Samsung’s compliance and “build a transparent company.”
By January 2021, the Seoul High Court again found Lee guilty of embezzlement and bribery and sentenced him to two and a half years in prison.
However, the billionaire was released on parole by August 2021 and pardoned a year later, according to CNN. Shortly thereafter, he was officially promoted to the top position at Samsung.
Lee, Samsung’s third-generation corporate heir, started working for the conglomerate in the early 1990s. He became Samsung’s de facto ruler by 2014, after becoming executive chairman in October 2022, two years after his father Lee Kun-hee died of a heart attack.
Lee’s father has also been convicted twice on corruption charges, including bribery, but has never spent a night in prison.
Representatives for Lee at Samsung did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The Seoul Central District Court’s latest ruling comes at a time when Samsung is losing market share to Apple.
iPhone maker will surpass Samsung in 2023 Smartphone shipmentThis has prompted Lee’s company to roll out a line of premium smartphones with multiple artificial intelligence features, including simultaneous interpretation for foreign language calls.
In another effort to unseat Apple, Samsung has kept the prices of the Galaxy S24 base and Plus models at the same levels as last year ($799 and $999, respectively), but the price of the Ultra has increased by $100. It was done.
Samsung also recently reported revenue that was about $1 billion lower than expected and its fourth straight quarter of declining profits.
