“Players to Be Deployed Wednesday” ... Gang Arrested for Boosting KOSDAQ Share Price to Four Times Its Value and Pocketing 6 Billion Won

[Financial News] Police apprehended a stock-manipulation ring that had driven the share price of a KOSDAQ-listed company to about four times its original level and pocketed huge illicit gains. Investigators believe the crime was directed by a former member of an organized crime group in Busan, with a current securities firm employee, the head of another listed company and a loan shark among those involved.
The Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Metropolitan Investigation Unit at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said on the 12th that it had apprehended around 25 people involved in stock manipulation on suspicion of price manipulation under the Capital Markets Act. The two ringleaders who planned and oversaw the crime are believed to have each pocketed about 3 billion won in illicit gains, for a total of 6 billion won.
According to police, from October 2022 to June 2023, the group allegedly used nominee accounts and multiple corporations to build up stock holdings in advance, then artificially drove up the share price of KOSDAQ-listed Gold&S. More than 9,000 orders designed to manipulate prices were placed in the process. The methods used included buying shares at high prices and matched trading, in which parties to a trade collude to buy and sell shares.
The roles in the crime were divided up in an organized manner. Ringleader A, a former member of an organized crime group in Busan monitored by local police, planned the entire operation, while B, the head of another KOSDAQ-listed company, was involved in building up stock holdings in advance and manipulating prices. The loan shark provided funds and placed orders designed to manipulate prices, while a current securities firm employee was entrusted with trading shares and placed orders through a terminal at the firm’s branch.
Investigators believe Gold&S was targeted in part because it had a relatively small number of shares in circulation. Trading in the company’s shares was suspended in 2019 following a case involving embezzlement and breach of trust by its former CEO, and resumed in 2022. Police believe the stock-manipulation ring took an interest in the company’s shares that had come up for sale.
The stock-manipulation ring’s cash shortage led to a sharp plunge in the share price. Police found that one member sold off shares they held out of concern that they would be forcibly liquidated. Large-scale selling and forced liquidations then coincided, sending the stock to the limit-down price for four consecutive trading days.
Gold&S’s share price stood at 9,050 won on May 30, 2023, and began plunging the following day, the 31st. At the time, suspicions of stock manipulation arose as sell orders became concentrated in a particular account, and police searched the offices and homes of those involved in May last year.
Police said they discovered signs of stock manipulation while reviewing a case referred for investigation by another agency on suspicion of violating the Act on Real Name Financial Transactions, and began investigating in May 2025 after independently identifying suspected price manipulation.
Police subsequently conducted about 10 searches and analyzed related accounts and transaction records to determine the stock-manipulation ring’s roles and the scale of its illicit gains. The value of the shares accumulated and traded for the operation was found to amount to several tens of billions of won.
Police sought arrest warrants for three people, including two ringleaders and one lead trader, but no warrant requests were filed with the court. Reports said the decision took into account that key evidence had been secured and that the suspects had been relatively cooperative with investigators.
A police official said, “We apprehended the entire group, which had divided up roles including ringleaders, fund providers, account providers and those placing orders designed to manipulate prices,” adding, “We will continue to respond firmly and rigorously to acts that disrupt the order of the capital markets.”

[email protected] Choi Seung-han Reporter