All Appeals Also 'Not Guilty' Lee Jae-yong's Side "Will Focus on Core Duties... Grateful to the Court"

Lee Jae-yong's Defense:
"We Will Focus on Core Duties"

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who is on trial for unfair merger and accounting fraud charges related to management succession, is attending the appellate court sentencing hearing held at the Seoul High Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the 3rd. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

In the appellate trial concerning the allegations of unfair merger and accounting fraud against Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, he was acquitted of all 19 charges related to unfair merger and accounting fraud. This resolves the judicial risk that Chairman Lee had faced for eight years, starting from the first trial on March 9, 2017, regarding the 'Blue House Samsung C&T merger intervention suspicion' case.

Immediately after the acquittal, Lee Jae-yong's defense attorney Kim Yoo-jin from Kim & Chang stated in a meeting with reporters, "We sincerely thank the court for its wise judgment," adding, "A very long time has passed during the investigation and trial process of this case. We hope that this ruling will allow the defendant to now focus fully on his core duties."

The Criminal Division 13 of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Baek Kang-jin) acquitted Chairman Lee on the 3rd of charges including unfair trading practices and market manipulation under the Capital Markets Act, as well as breach of duty. The other 13 defendants, including former Samsung Group Future Strategy Office (FSO) Chief Choi Ji-sung, former FSO Strategy Team Leader Kim Jong-joong, and former FSO Deputy General Manager Jang Choong-ki, who were indicted together, were also acquitted as in the original trial.

The court sequentially ruled on key issues such as the merger ratio and timing between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, and the control of Samsung BioLogics (Logics) over Samsung Bioepis (Epis), ultimately dismissing all the prosecutor's claims. The court stated, "The court's judgment is that criminal responsibility cannot be recognized based on speculation, scenarios, or assumptions," and added, "There is no merit to the prosecutor's grounds for appeal."