Bae Jae-hyun, former head of investments at Kakao, who had been taken into custody on charges of manipulating SM Entertainment's stock price, filed a civil lawsuit against Mirae Asset Securities, saying he suffered huge losses from a hacking incident in 2023.
After the damage occurred, former CEO Bae and Mirae Asset Securities discussed the scope of the loss and the calculation of compensation, but they were reportedly unable to narrow their differences.
According to the industry on the 9th, the hacking ring used personal information siphoned off in advance to forge an ID and create a burner phone after former president Bae was taken into custody in October 2023. Through this, they sold part of the stock that former president Bae held in his securities account, and moved the remaining stock and cash to accounts at other securities firms, an internet-only bank, and cryptocurrency exchanges.
Former president Bae claims the amount lost from the account due to the hacking, including cash and stock, totals 11 billion won.
Mirae Asset Securities, on the other hand, estimated that the actual loss was far smaller. Based on market prices at the time, the amount siphoned from the account totaled a little over 7.6 billion won—3.9 billion won withdrawn after selling stock and 3.7 billion won in cash—of which a little over 6 billion won was recovered, making the actual loss 1.6 billion won.
A Mirae Asset Securities official said, "Former president Bae argues that compensation for the stock sold from the account at that time should be based on current market prices, not the prices then, but under the Civil Act this constitutes 'special damages,' for which liability is recognized only when the parties knew or could have known of the circumstances in advance."
The sides also differ on the scope of liability. Former president Bae's side cites the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, which says that financial firms are responsible for financial accidents caused by forgery or alteration, and is demanding restoration of the stock and cash to their original state.
However, according to Mirae Asset's findings, the victim's burner phone was properly activated through KT's budget phone service, and a "1-won verification" at K Bank also proceeded normally. The ID authenticity check was conducted through a government system, not Mirae Asset's own system, so the company's position is that Mirae Asset Securities' liability is limited.
Meanwhile, the hacking rings targeted wealthy individuals who could not respond immediately even if money left their accounts. Jungkook of BTS, who was serving in the military along with former president Bae, and Lee Dong-chae, the EcoPro chairman who was incarcerated, were also reportedly targeted. However, the securities firms handling their accounts deemed the transactions suspicious, and no monetary loss occurred.