Search and Seizure of Shinhan Fund Partners
The prosecution, which has launched a reinvestigation into the 'Lime scandal,' is conducting raids on financial investment firms involved in managing Lime Asset Management funds day after day.
According to the legal community on the 8th, the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office sent prosecutors and investigators to Shinhan Fund Partners (formerly Shinhan ITAS) in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, to secure various documents related to the administration of Lime funds.
Shinhan Fund Partners, a fund service specialist company, was entrusted with administrative management during the operation of Lime funds. The administrative management company evaluates fund assets, calculates the net asset value, and supports fund subscription and redemption transactions.
The prosecution presented a search warrant to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 24th of last month and secured inspection records related to Lime fund redemptions. Since the 31st of last month, they have been conducting raids on securities firms that sold the funds. Based on the secured materials, the prosecution plans to verify the facts regarding allegations that Lime provided preferential treatment by returning investments to certain investors just before declaring a large-scale redemption suspension in October 2019 and determine whether judicial action is necessary.
Regarding the Lime allegations handed over by the Financial Supervisory Service, the prosecution has booked former Lime Asset Management Vice President Lee Jong-pil, who was responsible for the fund, on charges of breach of trust and violations of the Capital Markets Act. Lee, who triggered the 1.6 trillion won fund redemption suspension incident, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last November on charges including bribery and breach of trust under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and is currently incarcerated.
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