On August 1, the special prosecutor team led by Min Jungki requested an arrest warrant for Lee Jongho, the former CEO of Black Pearl Invest, who is known as a close aide to First Lady Kim Keonhee. The pretrial detention hearing for Lee is scheduled to take place at 10:30 a.m. on August 5 at the Seoul Central District Court.
Special Prosecutor Oh Junghui stated at a regular briefing on this day, "This morning, we requested an arrest warrant for Lee on charges of violating the Attorney-at-Law Act."
Lee is accused of receiving approximately 80 million won in 25 separate transactions from June 2022 to February 2023 from Lee Jeongpil, the main orchestrator of the first round of stock price manipulation at Deutsche Motors, and of promising to use his influence to help Lee Jeongpil receive a suspended sentence instead of imprisonment in his criminal trial (violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act).
Lee is considered to have played the role of "control tower" in the Deutsche Motors stock manipulation case, which is the core target of the special prosecutor's investigation. He is also mentioned in other allegations, such as the Sambu Construction stock manipulation case, which is suspected to have First Lady Kim Keonhee behind it, and the lobbying case involving Lim Sunggeun.
Previously, the special prosecutor's team summoned Lee three times for questioning regarding the alleged violation of the Attorney-at-Law Act, on July 21, 23, and 30. The special prosecutor is believed to have questioned whether Lee received money or valuables in exchange for influence peddling and whether he actually lobbied the former president and his wife.
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