Prosecutors appealed after the eldest daughter of the late former LG Group chairman Koo Bon-moo and her husband were acquitted in the first trial on charges of using undisclosed material information.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office said on the 13th that it filed a notice of appeal against the first-trial acquittal in the case of Koo Yeon-kyung, head of the LG Welfare Foundation, and her husband, Yoon Gwan, head of BlueRun Ventures (BRV), on charges of violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act.
Prosecutors said they decided to appeal after comprehensively considering that the undisclosed information was created and the next day Koo, for the first time in her life, directly bought shares, and that the standard for judging the use of undisclosed information should not vary by asset size.
Koo and her spouse were brought to trial on charges of reaping unfair gains by using undisclosed material information related to a paid-in capital increase by Mezzion Pharma, a KOSDAQ-listed bio corporations.
In the first trial, the court said, "It is difficult to find the charges proven guilty based solely on indirect facts," adding, "It appears to be an overreaching indictment."
The court found it hard to conclude that Mezzion Pharma shares were bought using undisclosed material information, noting that the size of the Mezzion Pharma share purchase was small compared with the purchase amounts of other stocks or Koo's asset, and that after buying Mezzion Pharma shares, Koo did not realize a profit and a year later granted the full amount to the LG Welfare Foundation.