Court Extends Detention Period of Kim Beom-su Over 'SM Market Manipulation Suspicion'

The detention period of Kim Beom-su, Chairman of Kakao's Management Innovation Committee, who is accused of manipulating stock prices during the acquisition process of SM Entertainment (SM), has been extended.

Kakao founder and Management Innovation Committee Chairman Beom-su Kim, considered the pinnacle of the 'SM market manipulation' suspicion, is attending the pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant hearing) held at the Southern District Court in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul on the 22nd. Photo by Hyun-min Kim kimhyun81@

On the 19th, the Criminal Division 15 of the Seoul Southern District Court (Chief Judge Yang Hwan-seung) announced that it had decided to renew the detention period of Chairman Kim, who was detained and indicted on charges of violating the Capital Markets and Financial Investment Business Act.

Chairman Kim is accused of conspiring with One Asia Partners and others to manipulate the market by fixing SM's stock price above the public tender offer price of 120,000 won during the acquisition process on February 16-17 and 27-28 last year, in order to obstruct the public tender offer by the competing company HYBE. The prosecution believes that as the group's top decision-maker, Kim was informed of and approved the market manipulation plan in advance, and that executives systematically mobilized funds to carry out manipulative on-market accumulation.

The prosecution requested an arrest warrant for Chairman Kim on July 17 due to concerns over evidence destruction. The Seoul Southern District Court held a detention hearing on July 22 and issued the arrest warrant the following day, July 23. Subsequently, on the 8th of last month, the prosecution sent Chairman Kim to trial while in detention. The detention period in court is two months from the date the indictment is filed, but in the first trial, it can be extended twice by two months each time. Chairman Kim's detention period has been extended until December 7.

Meanwhile, Chairman Kim completely denied the allegations related to SM's market manipulation during the first trial held at the Seoul Southern District Court on the 11th. The court plans to receive opinions on the evidence from the defense counsel by the end of this month and hold a pretrial conference on the 8th of next month.