Investors, both individuals and corporations, who suffered losses from Homeplus's "asset-backed short-term securities" (ABSTB) have filed a fraud complaint against Chairman Kim Byung-joo of MBK Partners, the major shareholder of Homeplus.
The Homeplus Goods Purchase Short-Term Securities Victims Emergency Countermeasures Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Committee) held a press conference in front of the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office on the 11th, announcing that it would submit a complaint against Chairman Kim and Kim Kwang-il, Homeplus's co-CEO (MBK Vice Chairman), Jo Joo-yeon, co-CEO, and Lee Seong-jin, head of financial management, for fraud and violations of the Capital Markets Act under the Specific Economic Crimes Weighted Punishment Act.
The number of individual and corporate victims listed in the complaint exceeds 120. The Committee claims that MBK and Homeplus planned the rehabilitation application in advance and sold ABSTBs worth trillions of won while being aware of the possibility of Homeplus's credit rating downgrade, causing losses to investors. The estimated damage amount from the victims is around 90 billion won.
The disputed ABSTB is a short-term bond with a maturity of three months issued by Homeplus based on credit card payments. ABSTB is mainly used as a liquidity securing tool for corporations, and from the investors' perspective, it is considered a short-term revenue-generating asset. However, if the issuer's credit risk increases, the risk of loss also increases.
The complainants are asserting that MBK and Homeplus issued the securities while hiding the fact that they were aware in advance that they would be unable to repay debt due to applying for corporate rehabilitation. Consequently, they claim that MBK Partners and others should be held accountable for fraudulent bond issuance.
MBK and Homeplus designated the securities as trade receivables eligible for normal repayment and stated they would repay them during the corporate rehabilitation process. However, they faced backlash from investors as they did not present a concrete repayment plan.
Earlier this month, three securities firms, including Shinyoung Securities, which issued the securities, and Hana Securities, which distributed them, also filed fraud complaints against Homeplus and its management.