Employees of the robot specialist Rainbow Robotics are under investigation by prosecutors over allegations that they used nonpublic information during the process of being incorporated as a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics to reap illicit profits worth several billion won.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office said on the 9th that it received a complaint last month from the Financial Services Commission's Securities and Futures Commission accusing Rainbow Robotics officials of violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act.
Earlier, the financial authorities reportedly referred two of the 16 people involved for indictment to prosecutors and notified that additional investigation was needed for the remaining 14.
The investigation targets are said to include a person surnamed Lee, the current CEO of Rainbow Robotics, and a person surnamed Bang, the former chief financial officer (CFO), among other employees.
Prosecutors are expected to investigate whether, during 2022–2024, in the process of Rainbow Robotics being acquired by Samsung Electronics, they used nonpublic information to gain illicit profits totaling 3 billion–4 billion won.
Rainbow Robotics, a robot specialist corporations founded by KAIST researchers, developed Korea's first bipedal walking Humanoid Robot, "HUBO." Last year, it was incorporated as a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.