'Optimus Fraud' Skin&Skin Chairman Brothers, Warrant Hearing on 19th

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The decision on whether to detain the chairman brothers of the cosmetics company Skin&Skin, who are accused of involvement in the Optimus Asset Management fund fraud, will be made on the 19th.

According to the legal community on the 16th, the Seoul Central District Court will conduct a pre-arrest detention hearing on the morning of the 19th for Skin&Skin Chairman Lee and his younger brother Lee, who is a director of the company.

They are accused of embezzling 15 billion KRW of Skin&Skin's funds in June under the pretext of a dental mask distribution business and submitting false transfer confirmation documents to the board of directors, pretending that the purchase payments had been made.

The 15 billion KRW was transferred to E-People Plus, an Optimus affiliate engaged in mask wholesale and retail business. However, it is known that the funds were mainly used to prevent the suspension of redemptions of Optimus funds. E-People Plus is a company wholly owned by lawyer Yoon Seok-ho, a director of Optimus.

Meanwhile, the prosecution has secured statements that the Optimus management tried to resolve internal financial difficulties caused by the fund fraud through the mask and hand sanitizer business, which saw a surge in demand due to COVID-19.