A detention review for former Well Biotec CEO Koo Se-hyun, who is suspected of misleading investors by pretending to take part in Ukraine reconstruction projects to inflate the stock price and pocket illicit gains, has been underway since the morning of the 29th.
Park Jeong-ho, Director General and warrant-exclusive senior judge at the Seoul Central District Court, has been conducting a pretrial detention examination (substantive warrant review) for the former CEO since 10 a.m. that day.
The former CEO was said to have entered the courthouse at about 9:46 a.m. that day, avoiding the press.
Special Counsel for Kim Keon-hee filed for an arrest warrant for the former CEO on the 27th on charges including violations of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, violations of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (breach of trust), and evidence concealment and aiding a suspect's flight.
The former CEO is suspected of deceiving investors by making it seem like Ukraine reconstruction projects would be pursued, including by taking part in a Ukraine forum held in Poland in 2023 together with SAMBU Construction, thereby driving up the stock price. The special counsel suspects the former CEO bought convertible bonds in advance at a low price and then sold them after the stock price rose, reaping a profit of about 40 billion won.
The former CEO is also suspected of helping the flight of Lee Ki-hoon, SAMBU Construction vice chairman (and Well Biotec chairman), a key figure in the SAMBU Construction stock manipulation case. Lee fled ahead of his substantive warrant review and was apprehended on the 10th of last month, 55 days later. The special counsel believes the former CEO helped as Lee moved around five locations nationwide while on the run.
The decision on whether to detain the former CEO is expected as early as this evening.