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Samsung boss Lee Jae-yong has been cleared by South Korea’s top court of fraud charges, concluding a years-long legal battle over his role in a 2015 merger deal.<\/p>\n
Lee, the grandson of Samsung’s founder and the de facto head of the company since 2014, had been accused of using stock and accounting fraud to try to gain control of the firm.<\/p>\n
In its final verdict, the Supreme Court in Seoul upheld a not guilty verdict, after Lee was acquitted of all charges in two earlier trials.<\/p>\n
The case drew widespread scrutiny of the technology giant, as the country grapples with corporate corruption scandals involving its powerful family-run conglomerates known as chaebols.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
“Today, the Supreme Court has clearly confirmed through its final ruling that the merger of Samsung C&T and the accounting treatment of Samsung Biologics were lawful,” said Samsung’s lawyers on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“We sincerely thank the court for its wise judgment following a thorough five-year trial process.”<\/p>\n
Prosecutors accused Lee and his advisors of inflating the value of his pharmaceutical firm, Samsung Biologics, through fraudulent accounting.<\/p>\n
They argued that the higher value allowed him to buy a larger share of a key Samsung subsidiary in a 2015 merger deal, which secured his succession.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors also said the merger was designed to shift control of the company from Lee’s father, Lee Kun-hee. His father, who faced legal troubles of his own, suffered a heart attack in 2014 and died in 2020.<\/p>\n
The younger Lee was first arrested in 2017 for bribing an advisor to former President Park Geun-hye to smooth his succession at Samsung.<\/p>\n
Over the course of his legal problems, he had separate jail terms cut short – one due to a special presidential pardon when he was on parole from prison. <\/p>\n