A group accused of manipulating the share price of a KOSDAQ-listed company and sending abroad a person who served as a so-called "figurehead CEO" has been brought to trial.
The Financial Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (Director General Kim Tae-gyeom) said on the 15th it indicted without detention five people, including a person identified as A, on charges including violating the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act and instigating the harboring of a criminal. A person identified as B, who was found to have directly handed an airline ticket to an accomplice who acted as the figurehead CEO, was also indicted.
From Aug. to Nov. 2018, A and others are accused of mobilizing more than 100 borrowed-name accounts to manipulate the price of KOSDAQ-listed Fortis (now DS&L) and obtaining about 4 billion won in illicit gains. They was found to have manipulated the same corporations' price from Nov. 2018 to Feb. 2019 as well. However, it is known that the share price fell, resulting in an eventual loss.
They was found to have agreed that if a person identified as C, who played the figurehead CEO role, faced criminal punishment, the person would be compensated with money. The compensation scale was plotted as 100 million to 200 million won per one year of imprisonment. Accordingly, they committed the crime mainly using an account under C's name, and when a financial authority investigation began in the second half of 2019, they sent C to Vietnam the next day and provided funds, reportedly obstructing the investigation for a long period.
C lived on the run for six years but was caught after an Interpol notice and was brought to trial in custody last year. After that, prosecutors additionally identified and arrested A, who led the stock-price manipulation and sent C into hiding, and five principal offenders who had been concealed in the background.
Fortis, which was used in the crime, listed on the KOSDAQ market in Jan. 2013. After the crime, on Jan. 3, 2024, Fortis was delisted.