Kim Keon Hee faces Supreme Court ruling over stock manipulation allegations; Yoon Suk Yeol to receive first-instance verdict in Myeong Tae-gyun polling case [This Week's Court Schedule]

[Financial News] The court's final ruling on Kim Keon Hee, who is facing charges including alleged stock manipulation in Deutsche Motors, will be handed down this week, from the 13th to the 17th. As this will be the Supreme Court's first ruling on Kim, who was sent to trial on a range of charges, it is expected to affect future cases. A first-instance ruling will also be issued in the case of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is accused of receiving free polling services from Myeong Tae-gyun.
According to the legal community on the 12th, the Second Division of the Supreme Court of Korea, presided over by Justice Park Young-jae, will deliver its verdict at 10:15 a.m. on the 16th in Kim's case, in which she is accused of violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, the Political Funds Act, and the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes.
This will be the first Supreme Court review of Kim Keon Hee, who was sent to trial over a series of allegations, and it comes 79 days after the appellate ruling.
Kim is accused of conspiring with former Deutsche Motors Chairman Kwon Oh-soo, former Black Pearl Investment CEO Lee Jong-ho, and others to carry out stock manipulation from October 2010 to December 2012 and to have gained more than 810 million won in illicit profits. She is also accused of receiving free public opinion polls worth about 270 million won from Myeong Tae-gyun ahead of the 20th presidential election in 2022, as well as accepting valuables worth about 80 million won, including Chanel bags, from Jeon Seong-bae, the shaman Geonjin.
In April, the appellate court sentenced Kim to four years in prison and a fine of 50 million won. It also ordered the confiscation of one Graff necklace worth 62.2 million won and the forfeiture of 20.94 million won. The sentence was more than twice as heavy as the first trial's sentence of one year and eight months in prison, but far below the special prosecutor's request for 15 years in prison. The appellate court overturned the first trial's acquittal on the charge of violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act and found her partially guilty.
The charge of brokering and receiving bribes, which had been partially upheld in the first trial, was also fully recognized as guilty. The appellate court found that Kim had received two Chanel bags, a Graff necklace, and concentrated ginseng tea from the Unification Church in exchange for support for the religious group.
However, the court, as in the first trial, found Kim and Yoon Suk Yeol not guilty of violating the Political Funds Act for allegedly receiving free polling services from Myeong Tae-gyun in return for the nomination of former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun.
Both the Kim Keon Hee Special Prosecutor Team, led by Special Counsel Min Joung-kie, and Kim's side have appealed the appellate ruling, bringing the case before the Supreme Court.
People Power Party lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong, who was indicted on charges of receiving illegal political funds from the Unification Church, will also receive a Supreme Court ruling on the same day.
Meanwhile, a ruling on former President Yoon, who is accused of receiving free polling services from Myeong Tae-gyun, will be issued on the 13th.
The Criminal Division 33 of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Lee Jin-gwan, will deliver the first-instance verdict that day for Yoon and political broker Myeong Tae-gyun, both of whom are accused of violating the Political Funds Act.
They are accused of providing and receiving free opinion polls from 2021 through the run-up to the 20th presidential election in 2022. The Kim Keon Hee Special Prosecutor Team concluded that Yoon, in collusion with Kim, received free polling services worth about 270 million won for roughly nine months, from June 2021 to March the following year. It also determined that Myeong provided the same amount free of charge to the presidential couple during the same period.
The special prosecutor team has asked the court to sentence Yoon to four years in prison and impose a forfeiture of 137.2 million won, while requesting a three-year prison term for Myeong.
However, since the charges were found not guilty in both Kim's case and Myeong's case at the Changwon District Court, attention is focused on whether this case will also end in acquittal.
[email protected] Jung Kyung-soo Reporter