Jihyang, the law firm representing victims of Coupang's massive personal information leak, said on the 2nd it filed an additional complaint accusing Coupang Inc Chair Bom Kim and Coupang CEO Harold Rogers, among other executives, of obstruction of business by fraud.
Through the complaint submitted that day to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Cyber Investigation Unit, Jihyang claimed the chair Kim and CEO Rogers spread false information through, respectively, an apology letter and testimony at a National Assembly hearing.
Jihyang said, "Coupang's management spread the falsehood that '100% of all information has been retrieved, so there is no risk of follow-up damage,' leading victims to believe they did not need to carry out security enhancement tasks," and added, "This clearly constitutes interference with victims' legitimate work through deception."
Jihyang took issue with chair Kim saying in an apology letter on Dec. 29 last year that "through cooperation with the government, we completed the retrieval of 100% of the leaked customer information," and with CEO Rogers testifying during the hearing that "the leaker stored information for only 3,000 accounts and all of it was retrieved."
Jihyang also stressed that Coupang's statement in an official report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that "the leaker stored only limited customer information for about 3,000 accounts and then deleted all of it" deceived domestic and foreign investors and victims of the data leak.
Jihyang urged investigative authorities to hold Coupang strictly accountable through a prompt and thorough probe. Attorney Lee Eun-woo of law firm Jihyang said, "Coupang described the personal information leak as an 'exposure,' received a corrective order, and complied, but this time it is misleading people by saying there was 'no leak,' putting victims at risk," and added, "Please clearly disclose the exact scope of the leaked information so that victims can take practical preventive measures."