Kakao 'SM Stock Manipulation' Decision on the 29th of Next Month... Bang Si-hyuk Absent as Witness

[Financial News] The final trial related to the 'SM Entertainment Stock Manipulation Allegations' will be held on August 29th.
The 15th Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Court (Presiding Judge Yang Hwan-seung) announced on the 11th during the trial for the alleged violation of the Capital Market Act by Kim Beom-su, founder of Kakao, and others, "We will proceed with the final trial on the 29th of next month."
During the final trial, a defendant interrogation of the founder Kim will also take place. This is because founder Kim is receiving outpatient treatment due to health issues and cannot attend the scheduled issue arrangement dates on the 25th of this month and the 22nd of next month.
The court stated on this day, "(Founder Kim's) health is not good, so we will conduct a brief defendant interrogation at the end."
On this day, Bang Si-hyuk, Chairman of HYBE, who was selected as a witness, did not appear again. It is known that Chairman Bang submitted a statement of absence due to a business trip to the United States. He was also absent from the witness interrogation held on the 20th of last month for the same reason.
Meanwhile, founder Kim is on trial for allegedly manipulating the stock price of SM Entertainment to fix it higher than the public purchase price of 120,000 won in the process of acquiring SM Entertainment on February 16-17 and 27-28, 2023, to obstruct the public purchase by the competitor HYBE.

welcome@fnnews.com Jang Yu-ha Reporter