Prosecutors Indict Private Equity Fund CEO for Colluding with Kakao in Price Manipulation Scheme

A, the CEO of private equity firm One Asia Partners, who is accused of participating in Kakao's 'SM price manipulation,' was arrested and indicted on the 15th.

The Financial Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office announced that A was arrested and indicted on charges including violation of the Capital Markets Act and violation of the Specific Economic Crimes Act (embezzlement). Under the dual punishment regulation that punishes both the perpetrator and the company, the One Asia Partners corporation was also brought to trial.

Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul.
Photo by Daehyun Kim kdh@

According to the prosecution, A is accused of manipulating the stock price by mobilizing 110 billion KRW of fund money to purchase SM Entertainment shares at high prices a total of 363 times on February 16-17 and 27 last year. At that time, Kakao and HYBE were competing to acquire SM Entertainment, and it is alleged that One Asia Partners conspired with Kakao to manipulate the price higher than HYBE's public tender offer price of 120,000 KRW.

Additionally, A is accused of embezzling 10.4 billion KRW of fund money in October 2019 for personal use, including repaying personal debts.

Earlier, the Capital Market Special Judicial Police (Special Judicial Police) of the Financial Supervisory Service referred A and other One Asia Partners officials to the prosecution in January on related charges.