Samsung Chief Executive Lee Jae-yong, also known as Jay Y. Lee, was acquitted on Monday of charges of accounting fraud and inventory value manipulation in South Korea in connection with the 2015 merger between Samsung C.
Prosecutors argued that the merger helped Lee ascend to his top position at the tech giant. Lee faced a five-year criminal sentence and a fine of 500 million won, or about $375,000, but the court did not find enough evidence for those allegations. He did not answer questions from the media as he left the courthouse, NPR reported. He has denied any wrongdoing, according to the New York Times.
Samsung is one of the largest tech companies in the world, producing a wide range of products including Samsung Galaxy phones, Galaxy Book laptops, and Samsung TVs, to name a few.
The South Korean court’s decision comes after years of legal battles over financial crimes related to this Samsung merger. Lee had initially been sentenced in 2017 for offering a bribe to former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and a close associate of Park’s to support the merger. But Lee’s sentence was reduced, and the executive left prison in 2018.
A subsequent retrial in 2021 revealed that Lee was again convicted of bribery worth 8. 6 billion won (about $6. 45 million), but Lee was released on parole that same year.
Lee had been banned from running at Samsung for five years, but South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol granted a pardon in 2022 to a citizen of the country.
At the time of writing, Bloomberg estimates Lee’s net profit to be around $9. 9 billion.
I’m a journalist who covers the morning news. Prior to joining PCMag in 2024, I was a journalist and manufacturer at Decrypt and introduced their gaming vertical, GG. I’ve previously signed with Input, Game Rant, and Dot Esports. I’ve been a PC gamer since The Sims (yes, the original). In 2020, I finally built my first PC with a 3090 graphics card, but I also use Mac and iOS devices regularly. As a journalist, I’m passionate about locating scoops and documenting the vast world of the generation and how it affects our daily lives.
I’m a journalist who covers the morning news. Prior to joining PCMag in 2024, I was a journalist and manufacturer at Decrypt and introduced their gaming vertical, GG. I’ve previously signed with Input, Game Rant, and Dot Esports. I’ve been a PC gamer since The Sims (yes, the original). In 2020, I finally built my first PC with a 3090 graphics card, but I also use Mac and iOS devices regularly. As a journalist, I’m passionate about finding scoops and documenting the vast world of the generation and how it affects our daily lives.