Samsung Heir Lee Jae-yong Acquitted in Landmark Fraud Case

Samsung’s de facto leader, Lee Jae-yong, has been fully cleared of fraud charges by South Korea’s Supreme Court, bringing an end to a protracted legal battle that has spanned years. The nation’s highest court upheld earlier not-guilty verdicts, dismissing allegations that Lee engaged in stock manipulation and accounting fraud to consolidate his control over the tech giant.

This final ruling concludes a high-profile case that has drawn considerable attention to South Korea’s powerful family-run conglomerates, known as chaebols, and the ongoing efforts to address corporate corruption. Lee, the grandson of Samsung’s founder and the company’s de facto head since 2014, was accused of orchestrating a 2015 merger between two Samsung subsidiaries, Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, to facilitate his succession from his ailing father, Lee Kun-hee.

Samsung’s legal team welcomed the decision, stating that the Supreme Court’s final ruling unequivocally confirms the lawfulness of the merger and Samsung Biologics’ accounting practices. The case had previously seen Lee arrested in 2017 on separate bribery charges, leading to multiple jail terms that were later commuted or pardoned, notably due to a presidential pardon aimed at bolstering South Korea’s economic recovery post-pandemic. The latest acquittal follows similar rulings in 2024 from both a district court and the High Court, which also cleared Lee of all charges related to the nearly $8 billion merger.

The resolution of these legal challenges offers Samsung a degree of stability as it navigates intense global competition and seeks to improve its stock market performance.

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