Former Chairman Kwon Osu of 'Doich Motors Stock Manipulation' Submits Appeal to Jeonju High Court... Prosecution Also Appeals

Former Deutsche Motors chairman Kwon Oh-soo, the main suspect in the ‘Deutsche Motors stock manipulation’ case, has appealed to the Supreme Court, dissatisfied with the appellate court's ruling. On the same day, Son Mo, the so-called ‘jeonju (錢主)’ who financed the stock manipulation, also filed an appeal, bringing the case before the Supreme Court.

Former Chairman Kwon Oh-su of Deutsch Motors. [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the legal community on the 19th, former chairman Kwon and Son submitted their appeals to the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 5 (Presiding Judges Kwon Soon-hyung, Ahn Seung-hoon, Shim Seung-woo) on that day.

Kim Mo, a securities firm employee who was indicted as the main player during the second stock manipulation period, also filed an appeal on the same day. Including securities firm employee A, who submitted an appeal on the 13th, six out of nine defendants in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case have filed appeals so far. Since the deadline for appeals is midnight tonight, the number of appellants may increase further.

Earlier, on the 12th, the appellate court overturned the original ruling that sentenced former chairman Kwon, indicted for violating the Capital Markets Act, to two years in prison with a three-year probation and a fine of 300 million won, and instead sentenced him to three years in prison with a four-year probation and a fine of 500 million won.

The court also overturned the original ruling that acquitted Son Mo, who was indicted for aiding stock manipulation, and sentenced him to six months in prison with a one-year probation. The court, like in the first trial, judged that Son could not be considered a ‘joint principal offender’ in the second round of market manipulation, but found him partially guilty of ‘aiding’ the market manipulation. Earlier, during the appellate process, the prosecution added the charge of aiding stock manipulation against Son as a preliminary charge through an indictment amendment.

Kwon and others were brought to trial in October 2021 on charges of manipulating Deutsche Motors’ stock price from 2009 to 2012 by systematically using nominee accounts to engage in prohibited unfair practices such as wash trading and fictitious transactions in the market.

Meanwhile, the prosecution also filed an appeal on the same day.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office stated, "Today, the Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office appealed the appellate court ruling on the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case, which was handed down on the 12th, regarding Kwon Oh-soo, CEO of Deutsche Motors, and eight others. We judged that some aspects of the ruling contradict the established legal principles of market manipulation, comprehensive offenses, and joint principal offenders, and appealed on grounds of factual misinterpretation, legal error, and insufficient trial." The prosecution added, "We will do our best to maintain the prosecution in the Supreme Court to ensure that appropriate punishment is imposed for the crimes."