Investment Consulting Firm Head Sentenced to 25 Years for Stock Manipulation
Click to start listening
Synopsis
On February 13, an investment consulting firm leader was sentenced to 25 years for a large-scale stock manipulation scheme that negatively affected local markets. The court also imposed hefty fines and forfeit obligations on him.
Key Takeaways
- Ra Deok-yeon sentenced to 25 years in prison.
- Fined 146.5 billion won and forfeited 194.4 billion won.
- Charged with profiting 737.7 billion won through stock manipulation.
- Accomplices received 6 years and 3.5 years respectively.
- Supreme Court ruled in favor of MBN regarding previous penalties.
Seoul, Feb 13 (NationPress) The leader of an investment consulting firm was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday due to a significant stock manipulation operation that destabilized local financial markets.
The Seoul Southern District Court mandated that Ra Deok-yeon, the head of the unregistered firm, pay a fine of 146.5 billion won ($101 million) along with a forfeit of 194.4 billion won.
Ra was charged with illegally accumulating 737.7 billion won from 2019 to 2023 by artificially inflating the stock prices of eight listed companies before selling them off, according to reports from Yonhap news agency.
Two of Ra's accomplices, identified by their surnames Byun and An, received prison sentences of six years and 3.5 years, respectively.
The court remarked, “The scale of the stock manipulation was unprecedented.” It noted that numerous innocent investors faced irreparable losses.
Despite orchestrating and leading the crime, the court indicated that Ra denies the allegations and shows no remorse.
In a separate matter, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision that annulled a 2020 ruling by the TV media watchdog, which had imposed a six-month shutdown on cable channel MBN for illegal financing and accounting fraud.
The court ruled in favor of MBN in its litigation against the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), which had mandated the suspension in October 2020, citing breaches of the Broadcasting Act.
Although MBN contested the penalty, the Seoul Administrative Court supported it in 2022, holding the network responsible for illegal financing when it acquired its business license in 2010, coupled with accounting fraud to hide the discrepancies.
Nonetheless, the Seoul High Court reversed this ruling in September of the previous year, acknowledging MBN's misconduct but concluding that it did not fundamentally damage the channel’s function as a news provider.
