Lee Seung-gi's Father-in-Law Sentenced to 3 Years and 6 Months for Manipulating KOSDAQ-Listed Companies' Stock Prices; Taken into Custody in Court

[Financial News] Lee Seung-gi's father-in-law, identified only by his surname Lee, 59, was sentenced to prison in the first trial for allegedly manipulating the stock prices of KOSDAQ-listed companies and pocketing illicit profits.
According to legal sources, the 15th Criminal Division of the Seoul Southern District Court, presided over by Judge Noh Yu-kyung, sentenced Lee and 12 others indicted on charges including violations of the Capital Markets Act on the 29th. Lee received a sentence of three years and six months in prison and a fine of 400 million won. The court also ordered him to forfeit approximately 125.5 million won. Lee had initially been indicted while detained but was released on bail last year. He had continued his trial without detention and was taken into custody in court immediately after the verdict.
Lee and the others were indicted on allegations that they drove up stock prices and made illicit profits worth hundreds of billions of won by deceiving investors into believing that KOSDAQ-listed companies were pursuing 'Pearl' (a favorable new business intended to boost stock prices) using cutting-edge technology.
For about a year beginning in November 2022, they placed market-manipulation orders for JOONGANG ADVANCED MATERIALS, a secondary-battery materials company, driving its stock price from 490 won to 5,850 won per share—an increase of more than tenfold. They were also found to have made tens of billions of won by inflating the stock price of QUANTAPIA, a renewable-energy company, through methods including the disclosure of a false investment commitment stating that an investment worth 100 billion won had been finalized.
In the process, when trading in QUANTAPIA was suspended in February 2024, Lee was also charged with violating the Attorney-at-Law Act. He allegedly received a 30 million won retainer from the 61-year-old former prosecution investigator Lee, who promised to resolve the matter, and was promised a success fee of 1 billion won.
The court pointed out, "The market-manipulation crimes in which the defendants participated are extremely serious because they harm the capital market by distorting its sound price-formation function," adding, "They are a textbook example of crimes that damage numerous innocent investors and undermine their willingness to invest."
However, the court acquitted him of the charge of violating the Attorney-at-Law Act, stating, "Although it can be acknowledged that Lee received the money, there is considerable room to view the payment as an act of delivering the money to another defendant rather than money he intended to obtain in exchange for a solicitation."
The investigator, Lee, was found to have led the crime to raise funds for the overseas escape of Lee In-gwang, the ESMO chairman identified as the main culprit in the Lime Asset Management redemption-suspension scandal. The court sentenced him to 10 years in prison and a fine of 24 billion won. It also ordered him to forfeit approximately 6.014 billion won.
The two men were also accused of spreading rumors that XCURE, a SIM-card manufacturer, was pursuing an AI robot business and placing market-manipulation orders to raise its stock price in an attempt to recover financial losses caused by the trading suspension.
However, the court acquitted them of the Capital Markets Act violation charge related to the alleged manipulation of XCURE's stock, saying, "The evidence submitted is insufficient to establish with certainty that the crime was carried out."
Meanwhile, Lee Seung-gi announced in April last year that his father-in-law had been additionally indicted for illegal activities. He then said, "Trust among family members has been damaged beyond repair," and announced that he would sever ties with his wife's family.
[email protected] An Ga-eul Reporter