Prosecutors indict independent lawmaker Lee Chun-seok without detention over ‘stock trading in an aide’s name’... “Received 29 million won in condolence and congratulatory money”

[Financial News] Independent lawmaker Lee Chun-seok has been sent to trial on allegations of trading stocks through an account held in an aide’s name and receiving condolence and congratulatory money exceeding the legal limit.
The Financial Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, headed by Chief Prosecutor Kim Tae-gyeom, announced on the 8th that it had indicted Lee without detention on charges of violating the Act on Real Name Financial Transactions and Confidentiality, the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, the Public Service Ethics Act and the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.
Aide A, who lent Lee a securities account and a mobile phone, secretary B, who allegedly destroyed evidence at A’s direction, and four acquaintances who provided condolence and congratulatory money exceeding the legal limit were also indicted without detention.
According to prosecutors, Lee allegedly received from A a mobile phone with a securities trading application installed, along with its password, around March 2020, while serving as a member of the 20th National Assembly, and around June 2024, shortly after taking office as a member of the 22nd National Assembly. He then traded stocks through a securities account held in A’s name.
Investigators found that, despite holding stocks worth more than 30 million won in the nominee account, he failed to sell them or place them in a blind trust within the legally prescribed period.
Lee was also charged with receiving approximately 29 million won from four acquaintances around 2021, when he was serving as Secretary General of the National Assembly, in the form of condolence money for his mother’s funeral and congratulatory money for his daughter’s wedding.
After allegations emerged last August that Lee had traded shares in artificial intelligence-related companies using undisclosed information he obtained as head of Economic Affairs Division 2 of the National Planning and Advisory Committee, A allegedly instructed B to destroy and conceal evidence by shredding documents from the lawmaker’s office and removing a laptop.
However, regarding the allegation that Lee used undisclosed information, prosecutors accepted the police’s decision not to refer him for prosecution on charges of violating the Capital Markets Act.
A prosecution official explained, “We requested a reinvestigation from the police, received the records and reviewed them again. However, we determined that the police’s conclusion was justified and returned the records.”
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