Latest news with #LeeJaeyong
CTV News
6 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
South Korea's top court upholds acquittal of Samsung's Lee over contentious 2015 merger
Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong arrives at the Seoul High Court in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's top court Thursday upheld the acquittal of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong on financial criminal charges, ending years of legal disputes over the 2015 merger between Samsung affiliates that solidified his control over the company. In 2024, the Seoul Central District Court acquitted Lee of charges like stock price manipulation and accounting fraud by ruling that prosecutors failed to sufficiently prove the merger was unlawfully conducted with an aim to strengthen Lee's control over Samsung. The Seoul High Court upheld the district court's ruling in February, and the Supreme Court dismissed prosecutors' appeal of the high court's decision Thursday. Its ruling is final and cannot be appealed. Samsung's lawyers said in a statement that they 'sincerely thank' the Supreme Court for 'wisely' ruling on the case. They said the ruling confirmed the 2015 merger was legitimate. Lee, a third-generation corporate heir who was officially appointed chairman of Samsung Electronics in 2022, has led the Samsung group of companies since 2014, when his late father, Lee Kun-hee, suffered a heart attack. The senior Lee died in 2020. Lee Jae-yong served 18 months in prison after being convicted in 2017 on separate bribery charges related to the 2015 merger. He was originally sentenced to five years in prison for offering bribes to then-president Park Geun-hye and her close confidante to win government support for the merger, which was key to strengthening his control over the Samsung business empire and solidifying the father-to-son leadership succession. Lee was paroled in 2021 and pardoned by then-President Yoon Suk Yeol in 2022. Some shareholders opposed the 2015 merger, saying it unfairly benefited the Lee family while hurting minority shareholders. The Associated Press
New York Times
6 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Acquittals Bring Samsung Chairman's Decade of Legal Woes to an End
The Supreme Court of South Korea acquitted the head of the country's tech giant, Samsung Electronics, on Thursday, resolving the last of a string of criminal charges and bringing the chairman's years of legal trouble to an end. The court cleared the Samsung Electronics chairman, Lee Jae-yong, of accounting fraud and stock manipulation, lifting a cloud of uncertainty that has hovered over him as his company grapples with President Trump's tariffs and global competition in developing chips used for artificial intelligence. Samsung is the most successful of the handful of family-owned conglomerates, known as chaebol, that have helped make South Korea a global export powerhouse and dominate the economy. Samsung Electronics alone accounts for nearly one-sixth of the country's total exports. But the company has also faced criticism and accusations of being above the law. Over the past decade, Mr. Lee, the scion of the company's founding family, has appeared in court multiple times and even went to jail for bribing a former president before being pardoned. The criminal charges in the case that ended Thursday stemmed from the 2015 merger of two Samsung subsidiaries, which helped cement his control of Samsung Electronics, as well as Samsung Group, South Korea's largest business conglomerate. Prosecutors accused Mr. Lee of illegally over- and underpricing the subsidiaries' stock prices and committing other criminal offenses during the merger. In February 2024, a district court cleared Mr. Lee of all the charges, citing a lack of evidence. In February, the Seoul High Court upheld the district court's ruling by rejecting an appeal from the prosecutors. The Supreme Court's ruling on Thursday made Mr. Lee's acquittal final by endorsing the Seoul High Court's decision. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Verge
6 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Samsung chairman acquitted all over again.
Samsung chairman acquitted all over again. Today Korea's Supreme Court cleared Lee Jae-yong of stock manipulation charges related to a merger which helped him take control of the company founded by his grandfather. He was acquitted by a lower court last February, which prosecutors appealed, but the country's top court sided with the Samsung man.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Samsung boss cleared of fraud by South Korea's top court
Samsung boss Lee Jae-yong has been cleared of fraud charges, concluding a decade-long legal battle over his role in a 2015 merger deal. Lee, the grandson of Samsung's founder and the de facto head of the company since 2014, had been accused of using stock and accounting fraud to try to gain control of the firm. In its final verdict, the South Korean Supreme Court upheld a not guilty verdict, after Lee was acquitted of all charges in two earlier trials. The case drew widespread scrutiny of the technology giant, as the country grapples with corporate corruption scandals involving its powerful family-run conglomerates known as chaebols. "Today, the Supreme Court has clearly confirmed through its final ruling that the merger of Samsung C&T and the accounting treatment of Samsung Biologics were lawful," said Samsung's lawyers on Thursday. "We sincerely thank the court for its wise judgment following a thorough five-year trial process." Lee faced allegations of fraud in the wake of a merger that led to his succession as Samsung's boss, after his father Lee Kun-hee suffered a heart attack and was left in a coma in 2014. In 2024, a district court cleared Lee of all charges linked to the merger worth around $8bn (£5.97bn) between two of its subsidiary companies. Lee was cleared again after prosecutors appealed the case in the High Court. Legal battles over the past decade have added to Samsung's troubles as it struggles with intensifying competition and underwhelming stock market performance.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Samsung boss cleared by Supreme Court over fraud case
Samsung boss Lee Jae-yong has been cleared of fraud charges, concluding a decade-long legal battle over his role in a 2015 merger deal. Lee, the grandson of Samsung's founder and the de facto head of the company since 2014, had been accused of using stock and accounting fraud to try and gain control of the firm. In its final verdict, the South Korean Supreme Court upheld a not guilty verdict, after Lee was acquitted of all charges in two earlier trials. The case drew widespread scrutiny of the technology giant, as the country grapples with corporate corruption scandals involving its powerful family-run conglomerates known as chaebols.
