Former Meritz Asset Management CEO John Lee filed a lawsuit seeking damages worth around 1 billion won against a media outlet that reported allegations of his illegal investments but lost the case.
According to the legal community on the 8th, the Civil Division 25 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Song Seung-woo) ruled against John Lee in a lawsuit he filed on the 3rd against Hankook Ilbo and three affiliated reporters, demanding the deletion of articles and damages. The court stated, "Based solely on the evidence submitted by the plaintiff, it is insufficient to recognize the articles in question as false, and there is no other evidence to support such recognition," as the reason for the ruling.
Earlier, in June 2022, Hankook Ilbo reported that John Lee had allegedly made illegal investments by investing 6 billion won worth of Meritz Asset Management financial products into an acquaintance's online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending company under his wife's name, prompting financial authorities to launch an investigation.
In response, John Lee filed a civil lawsuit claiming defamation due to false articles, demanding that Hankook Ilbo and the reporters pay a total of 1 billion won in damages, delete the articles, and publish a correction notice. John Lee argued that his spouse personally invested money in the P2P company and that it was not a case of nominee investment. He also stated that the acquaintance was neither the CEO of the P2P company nor was Meritz Asset Management investing directly in the P2P company, but rather in products intermediated by that company.
However, the court pointed out regarding the term "nominee investment" that "considering that the spouse is a ceramic artist and John Lee failed to submit any documents regarding the source of the funds, there is no evidence to recognize it as false." Furthermore, the court judged that there was no illegality, considering that the article was written for the public interest and included counterarguments, and that all criminal complaints against the reporters resulted in a "no charges" decision.
Regarding John Lee's claim that the acquaintance was not the CEO of the P2P company at the time of the report, the court ruled that it was merely a minor error, considering involvement in the establishment or operation. The court determined that Meritz Asset Management had invested 78 billion won in the company's intermediary products at that time. As for describing the two as an "economic community," the court rejected this, stating, "It is not a factual statement but merely an expression of opinion, and it cannot be considered to have exceeded the permissible limit."
Meanwhile, John Lee gained recognition as a mentor to individual investors leading the "Donghak Ant Movement" during the COVID-19 pandemic. He resigned from his CEO position following the emergence of nominee investment allegations.
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